Mariah Parker - Sangria (2009)

1 Waterwheel
2 Sangria
3 Debajo de la Lluvia
4 First Flight
5 Between the Lines
6 Pente
7 Tenth Journey
8 Milo's Moment

When a CD is titled Sangria, one automatically assumes that there is going to
be a strong Spanish influence. Sangria wine, after all, is as
quintessentially Spanish as flamenco, bullfights, paella, the Prado Museum,
Pedro Almodóvar films, and scorching heatwaves in Sevilla. But the Spanish
influence isn't as strong on this early 2009 release as its title indicates.
Regardless, this is an excellent album from pianist Mariah Parker, whose work
is best described as world jazz. Parker brings a wide variety of influences
to Sangria, ranging from Indian and Middle Eastern music to Afro-Cuban salsa
and Brazilian samba. She obviously appreciates the Eastern-influenced
spirituality and mysticism of John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders,
and Lonnie Liston Smith, but her composing also contains elements of everyone
from Pat Metheny to Chick Corea. And while Spanish flamenco is an influence
on Sangria, it is only one of many influences. Sangria is an ambitious and
challenging album, although it is also relatively accessible. In some cases,
ambitious and challenging can mean abstract and ultra-cerebral, but melodic
Parker originals such as "Between the Lines," "Debajo de la Lluvia," "10th
Journey" and "Waterwheel" are fairly easy to absorb -- even if one isn't a
seasoned jazz listener. Parker, of course, didn't invent the idea of world
jazz; New Orleans pioneers like King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton were
influenced by world music back in the 1910s and 1920s. But she keeps it
moving forward; Parker takes chances, demonstrating that the fusion of jazz
and world music still has plenty of possibilities after all these years --
and a global perspective serves Parker well throughout the rewarding Sangria.

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