Pianist Joel Futterman and bassist William Parker will release Transcendent Universe on Burning Ambulance Music, May 22, 2026.
Futterman, a heavy and high-energy pianist, has made more than 80 albums, and performed with legends in the US and internationally. Parker is, of course, a titanic figure in avant-garde jazz, a central presence in improvised music worldwide since the 1970s. “William and I have been collaborating for over forty years,” Futterman says. “Every time that we create a spontaneous composition we have a spiritual and sacred interaction. The depth of our collective listening guides a dynamic musical narrative and explores new directions in the art of improvised music. It’s always very hip to create music with William!”
Transcendent Universe offers an hour of music divided into two long tracks of 34 and 21 minutes respectively, with a five-minute coda, and there’s as much romantic beauty to be found here as anarchic pounding. Comparisons to the work of Cecil Taylor, Bobby Few, or Don Pullen are understandable, but this is a unique and personal music that could only be produced by the two men who made it. The term “ecstatic jazz” has been around for a while, but the best word for Transcendent Universe might be “rapturous.”
Transcendent Universe will be released on May 22, 2026 digitally and as a limited edition of 500 CDs in heavy-duty gatefold mini-LP sleeves printed on textured paper, with artwork by Burning Ambulance Music co-founder I.A. Freeman