William Hooker

Flesh and Bones is the latest release from drummer, composer, and poet William Hooker. The album marks his third full length effort for Org Music, following “Big Moon” (2021) and “Symphonie of Flowers” (2019). Hooker has also referred to the new work as his “Black Lives Suite”, a multi-disciplinary event which uses music and poetry to address the social issues of the times. Recorded at NYU Steinhart Studios, the recording features fellow New York based players Ras Moshe, Charles Burnham, On Davis, Hilliard Greene, and Luke Stewart. After more than 70 releases as a leader and nearly five decades into his career, William Hooker has solidified his reputation as one of the most unique composers and drummers of his generation, and he continues to explore new territory. Flesh and Bones was mastered by Dave Gardner, and features liner notes from Hooker himself. The album will be available everywhere November 3rd.

LP Tracklist:

A1 Flames
A2 My Blood
A3 Captivity
B1 Courts
B2 Sewing the Seams
B3 True Dat
B4 Reveal a Truth

Digital & CD Tracklist:

1. Flames
2. My Blood
3. Captivity
4. Courts
5. Sewing the Seams
6. True Dat
7. Reveal a Truth
8. Black Lives
9. Illustrious Posterity
10. Ageless
11. The Soul of Fire

Shamballa is the 1993 collaboration from jazz drummer William Hooker, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), and composer Elliott Sharp. The release features Hooker performing duets with each musician. Hooker and Moore’s performance is littered with bursts of feedback and distortion, while the collaboration with Sharp is characterized by a more electronic sound, building a sense of technology. The pieces were released on vinyl for the first time as a double LP for Record Store Day 2023, limited to 1,500 copies.

Tracklist:
Side 1 "First Meeting"
A1 Sirius Part 1 - Wheels
B1 Sirius Part 2 - Wings

Side 2 "Continuous - Time ... Consciousness."
A1 The Hat... And Its Train (part 1)
B1 The Hat... And Its Train (part 2)

Recorded live at Slim’s in San Francisco, Mindfulness is the brilliant soundscape created by drummer William Hooker, along with Glenn Spearman on tenor saxophone and DJ Olive. The five Hooker compositions flow into each other, one after another, seamlessly, as if to take the listener on a musical voyage through time and space. The layers of vibrant sound, accompanied by trashing drums and shrieking sax show the incredible ability of each musician to take their instrumental vocabulary to a new level. The album receives its first ever vinyl release with this clear 2xLP pressing, featuring two unreleased bonus tracks, preivously only for Record Store Day, but now widely available.

William Hooker is a musician, composer, and poet with over 70 recordings as a leader, encompassing jazz, new music, experimental music and multi-disciplinary forms of expression (e.g. dance, silent film and spoken word). He has been recognized as “an iconoclast, and one of the most innovative musicians and drummers of his generation”  [The Wire],  which is evident nowhere more than on his latest album, Jubilation. The new work features collaborators Matt LaVelle on trumpet, Stevie Manning on alto saxophone, On Davis on guitar, and Adam Lane on Bass. The release marks Hooker’s fourth outing for Org Music, following Flesh and Bones (2023), Big Moon (2021), and Symphonie of Flowers (2019). 

Hooker says of Jubilation, “our express purpose was to play great music and to communicate such.” The group, captured live in 2023 at acclaimed Brooklyn performance arts venue Roullette,  does just that. The dynamic set showcases each of the players’ unique craft with extended solo performances, introducing new elements and building towards a more collaborative effort as the piece progresses. The result, captured faithfully on this recording, is pure Jubilation (noun; a feeling of great happiness and triumph).

Tracklist:
A1 The Stare
A2 Linking
A3 The Villages
A4 Central Features of Sleep
B1 Exhausting Clouds
B2 Laws of Heredity
B3 Steam