“Building a masterful solo as revenge, as fuel to the scheme of dreaming.” – William Hooker

It is too simplistic to categorize William Hooker as a fiery drummer who constantly explores structure and genre. As evidenced by the quote above from the spoken piece at the end of this recording, William’s playing is connected to an emotional world and the world at large. Bookended by two spoken word pieces, ‘Ingratiated Beam – Leroy’ and ‘Yearn for Certainty’, the title refers to the desire to know specifically and certainly how the world is to evolve forward. In between there is the down home banjo/sax of ‘Century’s Soles’, the rainy bluster of ‘Commonplace Travels’, and the drum solo-clarinet solo-trio explosion of ‘Magistrait.’ Joined by multi-instrumentalists David Soldier (classical guitar, banjo, mandolin, and violin) and Sabir Mateen (saxophone, flute, and clarinet) the William Hooker Trio is both tender and thunderous on Yearn for Certainty.