«El Templo» is already the third album of the free improvising trio of Argentinian, Buenos Aires-based pianist Paula Shocron and her close collaborator, drummer Pablo Díaz, with American double bass master William Parker. The album was recorded at Scholes Street Studio in Brooklyn on September 2019 and follows «Emptying the Self» and «Live Concert At Ibeam, Brooklyn, NYC September 21, 2019» (the latter was recorded three days after «El Templo». Both albums were released Shocron, Díaz and sax player Miguel Crozzoli’s Nendo Dango label, 2017, 2019).
Parker’s soul brother Matthew Shipp, who wrote the liner notes, mentions that Parker thinks that this trio has a right vibe, a great compliment in the lexicon of Parker. And indeed, this trio serves the music, and as Shipp writes, there is a «balance, an equilibrium to this trio that comes from honesty of intent and from all three members being truly in the moment … the trio have an intrinsic sense of trio as a whole and that allows them to find their own space». This is a trio that works as a powerful organism and clearly empties its individuals from ego-based clashes.
«El Templo» offers four pieces, credited to the three musicians. The opening piece «Los Jardines» flows organically as Shocron builds a thunderous wall of dark sounds but at the same time suggests a strong theme, while Parker and Díaz immediately compliment her. The title piece is a 30-minute improvisation that develops in its own accord, as the trio works as a tight and well-balanced collective. The trio builds patiently its mysterious and poetic narrative, slowly expanding its palette of sounds, until settling on intense and energetic dynamics, but coloring occasionally these dynamics with lyrical gestures. On the following «Ausencia», the trio deepens these lyrical veins, even reaching openly emotional, almost romantic depths. The last piece «Caprioconio» begins as a more open and sound-oriented improvisation but eventually settles on a powerful «right vibe», highlighting again, as Shipp notes, the trio’s «reverence for the act of music-making», as well as its direct honesty and rare equilibrium.
Eyal Hareuveni
Paula Shocron (p), William Parker (b), Pablo Díaz (dr)
