William Parker is rightly regarded as one of the pre-eminent bass players of our age but, on these two new releases, he largely forgoes the bass, concentrating on other facets of his voluminous creativity.

Heart Trio convenes two longstanding comrades – Hamid Drake and Cooper-Moore – for their first ever trio recording. Rather than a free-jazz summit, it’s an outernational fantasy of panglobal grooves infused with the genial spirit of 1970s-era Don Cherry, with whom both Parker and Drake worked extensively at the beginning of their careers.

A handful of improvisations find Parker blowing sinuous double-reeded dudek, ethereal Japanese shakuhachi and various other flutes, Drake pattering a frame drum and Cooper-Moore laying down lilting figures on his self-made ashimba (an 11-note wooden xylophone), convincingly proposing the kind of Fourth World vibe Cherry pioneered.

Cherry’s influence is even more strongly felt on pieces featuring Parker plucking burbling curlicues on the West African doson ngoni, which Cherry first introduced him to in 1975. Here, Cooper-Moore joins him on another self-made instrument, adding mellifluous ripples on the hoe-handle harp, while Drake injects some effortless swing behind a small drum kit. There’s a simple, organic beauty to these jams that feels like a much-needed dose of healing energy.

Cereal Music foregrounds Parker the spoken word artist, as he delivers poems and personal observations in a mellow tone. His poetry ranges from reverent reflections on music (as in ‘Ode To Kidd Jordan’ where he intones “Hallelujah in the joy of sound”) to more abstract, Beat-influenced lines (like ‘Death,’ with its hip quip “Grandma ran dope on Jupiter”).

Elsewhere, Parker muses on his mother and offers scraps of tour journals. These are all embedded in sound-worlds provided by Ellen Christie (who previously contributed to Parker’s The Majesty Of Jah), ranging from droning synthscapes to layers of choral vocals and some slightly less compelling electronic beats. When it works, though, it’s often transporting. ‘Do Dreams Sleep’ collages field recordings of bird chatter and distant hollers with Parker intimately imparting, “I want to live between the rainbow.” On ‘We Were Very Civilised', a recording of gnawa trance music accompanies Parker’s rueful rumination on the fate of the African diaspora: “We were better off before. We were very civilised before we were civilised.”

At the age of 72, Parker continues to radiate deep thought and unbounded imagination. These two releases are fine additions to his bounteous oeuvre.