Joe Morris, William Parker & Gerald Cleaver - Altitude

Joe Morris, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver are among the most gifted instrumentalists & improvisers in the world today. Altitude documents their first communion together as a trio & they gripped the occasion by creating timeless music rife with invention.

"These gentlemen are playing at the highest level. They establish a rhythmic pattern together, search for a melody together, resolve all open-ended ideas together and move onto the next idea together, all while maintaining an overall vibe that stays with them from start to finish. Moreover, each is playing with the level of confidence only the best can display while playing the long form, never running out of things to express. Improvised music is far from being a spent force within jazz, and it never will be as long as the virtuosos are playing it." –S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!

"With a terrific sense of space and a deft articulation that’s highlighted by his unvarnished, reverb-less clean tone, Morris’ phrasing and the intensities of his attack rarely fail to get my blood circulating along with him. These players exude such organic flow and effervescent energy without indulging in excess — taking care at each moment to craft statements of complex polyphony that pour out with such rapidity — that it’s hard to take it all in. Altitude is state of the art improvising." –Jason Bivins, Dusted

"This borders on mind reading at times as wave upon wave of musical ideas flow forth from the trio. The music has great heart and intellect and the balance between the two gives the music much of its passionate motion. Cooperation is the key to this very successful recording, with three distinctive voices joining as one to create powerful and thrilling sounds." –Tim Niland, Music and More