Regulars at London’s Pizza Express will need no introduction to drummer Marc Parnell whose rhythmic and energetic style has added hugely to performances by smooth jazz notables such as Peter White, Basia, Dave Koz and Brian Culbertson. In fact
Marc has been active as a session drummer for over thirty years and has worked with artists as diverse as Annie Ross, Joan Armatrading, Jethro Tull, Girls Aloud and the Pet Shop Boys. His Marc Parnell Trio plays regularly in a range of UK venues and he is now set to move center stage with his own CD, ‘Typical’, which is due out in the first quarter of 2013.
In a collection dappled with influences of Weather Report, Herbie Hancock and a whole lot besides it’s the head bopping title cut that quickly enables Parnell to reveal his jazzy roots while his feisty cover of Bob Baldwin’s tribute to deceased Weather Report keyboard player ‘Joe Zawinul’ does much the same. ‘No Passengers’ maintains the jazz drenched urgent approach that permeates much of the collection while ‘In My Dreams’ allows Parnell to show off the vocal side of his musical persona. It’s a song evocative of the pop anthems that populated the landscape of the eighties and although the Latin spiced ‘Beautiful’ also includes vocals another intense, and this time keyboard driven number comes courtesy of the jazzy ‘Allo Vera’.
Later, when Parnell cuts loose for a slice of ballsy jazz fusion the result is the hard hitting ‘Mumbling’ which truth to tell is not for the faint hearted but as the tempo slackens the quirky, easy loping ‘Scissors’, with metronomic piano and appealing harmonica, proves to be as different as it is interesting.
In terms of personal favorites, a wonderful surprise comes in the form of the shimmering ‘Pequenita’ where a piano introduction of cinematic proportions paves the way to a zesty Latin charmer of the highest order. Despite its running time of eight minutes thirty-five seconds this is a track that you will not want to end.