Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Teri Parker: Shaping the Invisible

Teri Parker: Shaping the Invisible

By Dan McClenaghan
September 26, 2023
View read count

Here is how to take an artistic vision to the next level: Find a room with a lock on the door. Step inside. Engage the lock. Examine the work of those who came before you. Then begin the process of your own creativity.

This worked for pianist/composer Parker—so says her sophomore recording, Shaping The Invisible.

Parker is a Toronto-based musician. Her debut album, 2017's self-produced In The Past (review here) is a highly engaging and beautifully melodic set. Shaping The Invisible takes things, compositionally, to the next level. Her tunes are frequently off-kilter, odd. It is not clear who she listened to in her creation room, but with "Becoming"—named for Michelle Obama's memoir—the incomparable pianist

Andrew Hill

piano
1931 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Hill's approach seems to bubble up. Like Hill's writing, "Becoming" is compelling in its own unconventional way, the "unconventionality" of it making it all the more riveting, opening in a dreamy mode before shifting into an insistent straight eighths groove.

Parker uses, by turns, a quintet-and-a-rhythm-section or a quartet-and-a-rhythm-section, with saxophonist

Luis Deniz

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Luis Deniz sitting in on all the tunes, and trumpeter

Andrew McAnsh

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew McAnsh contributing to three tunes, with bassist

Mark Godfrey

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Godfrey and drummer

Ernesto Cervini

drums
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Ernesto Cervini rounding out the group.

"Hmph" was written with saxophonist

Dewey Redman

saxophone, tenor
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Dewey Redman in mind. It brims with a scattershot joy, reminiscent of

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett's American Quartet.

Seven of the nine tunes presented here are Parker originals. She brings in the writing of another Parker,

Charlie Parker

saxophone, alto
1920 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Parker, with "Segment." The band plays the tune as if they really love it, giving the familiar melody a bright buoyancy, while "Retrograde," written by British producer/singer James Blake, explores some blue moods, with Deniz's sax sounding eloquently anguished.

"Paw Prints" says that Parker may not have gone with total solitude in her creation room. There may have been a dog (dogs?) in there with her when she was writing this light-hearted, light-stepping romp. The disc closes with the

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk-inspired "Strolling"—full of its zigs and zags and an unusual angularity, with an introspective piano segment in the beginning that shifts into a bouncing bop mode with Deniz' impassioned sax out front. This might be the highlight, though there is a lot to choose from for that tag.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Becoming; Humph; K.T.T. Bass Intro; Kitchen Timer Tune; Desolate Places; Segment; Paw Prints; Retrograde; Strolling.

Personnel

Teri Parker

piano

Luis Deniz

saxophone, alto

Ernesto Cervini

drums

Mark Godfrey

bass

Andrew McAnsh

trumpet

Album information

Title: Shaping the Invisible | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Self Produced

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Two new releases on ezz-thetics
< Previous

Betty Davis' and Charles Mingus' Roa...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.