WILLIAM PARKER ‘Mayan Space Station’

If, as Parker suggests, the titular Mayan Space Station is a hub for musicians to ‘fuel up’ then this trio are regular guests. Taking sustenance, and taking flight, these sonic conduits never stop the search, and this project is the perfect launch pad. William Parker, the mercurial bassist, composer, and poet, has tirelessly mapped his musical mind across endless releases and collaborations. This latest album doesn’t contain many bones giving free rein to this powerful trio. Parker provides his customary low end, and Gerald Cleaver scampers across the skins, leaving the stage set for the irrepressible Ava Medosa and her coruscating guitar work. Across six long form tracks Mendoza dismantles blues, jazz, and contemporary rock styles, into an improvised stream of molten cosmic energy. Employing a biting tone, and less of her trademark effects in the main, the trio sizzle, but when the crazed title track hits, followed by the tonal meltdown of Canyons Of Lights, we’re catapulted into the stratosphere.