William Parker (musician)
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
ist, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy GarrisonJimmy Garrison
Jimmy Garrison was an American jazz double bassist born in Miami, Florida. He was best known through his long association with John Coltrane from 1961–1967.-Biography:...
, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware
Wilbur Ware
Wilbur Ware was an American jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style.Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass. In the 1940s, he worked with Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge. In the 1950s, Ware played with Eddie Vinson, Art Blakey, and Buddy DeFranco...
and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
. He also plays several other instruments from around the world, including the West African kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
.
While Parker has been active since the early 1970s; he has had a higher public profile since the early 1990s. He is a vital musician in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
experimental jazz scene, and has regularly appeared at music festivals around the world, including the Guelph Jazz Festival, in southern Ontario.
Parker first came to public attention with pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
. He has long been a member of saxophonist David S. Ware
David S. Ware
David Spencer Ware , is an American jazz saxophonist.Ware grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. He attended the Berklee College of Music and worked in New York City as a cab driver for 14 years, later returning to Scotch Plains to live...
's quartet and in Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
' s groups.
He is a member of the cooperative Other Dimensions In Music
Other Dimensions In Music
Other Dimensions In Music is a free jazz group founded in the 1980s.The group's music is entirely improvised, but is generally more melodic than some listeners expect from free jazz.-Members:* Rashid Bakr * Roy Campbell, Jr....
. Together with his wife, dancer Patricia Nicholson, he organizes the annual Vision Festival
Vision Festival
The Vision Festival is the world's premier festival of experimental music , art, film and dance. Inspired by the 1984 and '88 Sound Unity Festivals. It was a direct out growth of the Improvisors Collective 1994 and '95. In 1996, Dancer-choreographer Patricia Nicholson Parker, initiated the First...
in New York City.
Parker has recorded and performed with many musicians, including Lewis "Flip" Barnes, Matthew Shipp
Matthew Shipp
Matthew Shipp is an American pianist, composer and bandleader.Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown....
, Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He lives in Chicago, IL but spends much of his time traveling around the world for concerts and studio dates....
, Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer.Born and brought up in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone and then moved to San Francisco...
, Daniel Carter
Daniel Carter (musician)
Daniel Carter is an American free jazz saxophone, flute, clarinet, and trumpet player active mainly in New York City since the early 1970s...
, Federico Ughi
Federico Ughi
Federico Ughi is an Italian drummer and composer. He works primarily in the fields of free improvisation and jazz. Originally from Italy, he has lived in New York City since 2000, and is based in Brooklyn, New York...
, Bill Dixon
Bill Dixon
Bill Dixon was an American musician, composer, visual artist, and educator. Dixon was one of the seminal figures in the free jazz movement. He played the trumpet, flugelhorn, and piano, often using electronic delay and reverberation as part of his trumpet playing.-Biography:Dixon hailed from...
, Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist, pianist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist.-Biography:Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms...
, Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...
, Butch Morris
Butch Morris
Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris is an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.-Biography:Before his musical career, Morris served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War....
, Billy Bang
Billy Bang
Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...
, Fred Anderson
Fred Anderson (musician)
Fred Anderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who was based in Chicago, Illinois. With a distinctive forward-bent playing posture, Anderson's playing was rooted in the swing music and hard bop idioms, but also incorporated innovations from free jazz, rendering him, as critics Ron Wynn and...
, Kidd Jordan
Kidd Jordan
Edward "Kidd" Jordan is an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Rob Brown, Joe Morris
Joe Morris (guitarist)
Joe Morris is an American jazz guitarist. In addition to leading his own groups, he has recorded with William Parker, Whit Dickey, Rob Brown, Joe Maneri and others...
, Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson was an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.-Biography:...
, Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy (musician)
Paul Murphy is an American jazz drummer.Paul Murphy grew up in Washington, D.C.. At the age of seven he started studying drums with Gene Krupa and then with Louis Bellson...
, Sunny Murray
Sunny Murray
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray is one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.-Biography:...
, Perry Robinson
Perry Robinson
Perry Morris Robinson is an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He is the son of the noted composer Earl Robinson. -Biography:...
, Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....
, Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
, Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...
, Spring Heel Jack
Spring Heel Jack
Spring Heel Jack is an English electronic music group consisting of John Coxon and Ashley Wales.Formed in 1993 in London, England, Spring Heel Jack began their career exploring drum and bass and jungle, but have since branched out into free improvisation and jazz, collaborating with many acclaimed...
, El-Producto
El-Producto
El-P is an American hip hop artist and entrepreneur from Brooklyn, New York City. Originally a member of Company Flow, El-P has been a major driving force in alternative hip hop for over a decade. He is the co-founder, owner and CEO of the Definitive Jux record label...
, DJ Spooky
DJ Spooky
Paul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...
, Susie Ibarra
Susie Ibarra
Susie Ibarra is a Contemporary Composer and Percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and Indigenous musicians. She is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world and new music...
, Joel Futterman
Joel Futterman
Joel Futterman is an American jazz pianist and curved soprano saxophonist. He has appeared on more than 65 recordings as of 2009....
, Julia Kent
Julia Kent
Julia Kent is a New York City-based, Canadian-born cellist who is best known as an original member of the all-cello group Rasputina, and later on as a member of Antony and the Johnsons....
, John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
and Mat Maneri
Mat Maneri
Mat Maneri, born on October 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York is an American composer, improviser and jazz violin and viola player, specifically derivatives such as the five-string viola, the electric six-string violin, and the baritone violin...
.
The album Sound Unity by the William Parker Quartet was chosen as one of Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. His August 2008 CD Double Sunrise over Neptune was listed as one of the top 10 2008 (through end of August) Jazz CD's at Amazon. . Also released in 2008, Petit Oiseau was chosen as one of the best jazz disks of 2008 by The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, the BBC's Radio Three
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, and PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
.
In March 2007, William Parker's book, who owns music?, was published by buddy's knife jazzedition in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. who owns music? assembles his political thoughts, poems, and musicological essays.
As leader
- Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace (Eremite, 1979)
- In Order to Survive (Black Saint, 1993)
- Flowers Grow in My Room (Centering, 1995)
- Testimony (Zero In, 1995)
- Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy (Homestead, 1996)
- Sunrise in the Tone World (AUM Fidelity, 1997)
- Lifting the Sanctions (No More, 1997)
- Zen Mountains/Zen Streets: A Duet For Poet & Improvised Bass (Boxholder, 1998)
- Peach Orchard (AUM Fidelity, 1998)
- Posium Pendasem (FMP, 1999)
- O'Neal's Porch (AUM Fidelity, 2000)
- Mayor of Punkville (AUM Fidelity, 2000)
- Painter's Spring (Thirsty Ear, 2000)
- Song Cycle' (Boxholder, 2001)
- Piercing the Veil (AUM Fidelity, 2001)
- Bob's Pink Cadillac (Eremite, 2002)
- ... and William Danced (Ayler, 2002)
- Raining on the Moon (Thirsty Ear, 2002)
- Spontaneous (Splasc(H), 2003)
- Eloping with the Sun (Riti, 2003)
- Scrapbook (Thirsty Ear, 2003)
- Mass for the Healing of the World (Black Saint, 2004)
- Fractured Dimensions (Free, 2004)
- Luc's Lantern (Thirsty Ear, 2005)
- Sound Unity (AUM Fidelity, 2005)
- Long Hidden: The Olmec Series (AUM Fidelity, 2006)
- For Percy Heath (Victo, 2006)
- The The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield (Rai Trade, 2007)
- Volume 2: Summer Snow with Hamid DrakeHamid DrakeHamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He lives in Chicago, IL but spends much of his time traveling around the world for concerts and studio dates....
(AUM Fidelity, 2007) - Corn Meal Dance (AUM Fidelity, 2007)
- Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Aum Fidelity/Arts for Art, 2007)
- Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity, 2008)
- Beyond QuantumBeyond QuantumBeyond Quantum is an album by American saxophonist Anthony Braxton, percussionist Milford Graves, and bassist William Parker recorded in 2008 for the Tzadik label.-Reception:...
with Anthony BraxtonAnthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
and Milford GravesMilford GravesMilford Graves is an American jazz drummer and percussionist, most noteworthy for his early avant-garde contributions in the early 1960s with Paul Bley and the New York Art Quartet...
(Tzadik, 2008) - I Plan to Stay a Believer: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield" (AUM Fidelity, 2010)
- Uncle Joe's Spirit House (Centering, 2010)
As sideman
With Derek Bailey and John ZornJohn Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
- HarrasHarras-Track listing:# "Morning Harras" - 12:35# "Noon Harras" - 8:59# "Evening Harras" - 36:00-Personnel:*Derek Bailey – guitar*John Zorn – alto*William Parker – bass...
(Avant, 1993)
With Billy Bang
Billy Bang
Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...
- The Fire from WithinThe Fire from WithinThe Fire from Within is an album by the American jazz violinist Billy Bang recorded in 1984 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(Soul Note, 1981) - Live at Carlos 1Live at Carlos 1Live at Carlos 1 is a live album by the American jazz violinist Billy Bang recorded in 1986 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(Soul Note, 1984)
With Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist, pianist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist.-Biography:Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms...
- ConsecrationConsecration (album)Consecration is an album by American jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle featuring performances recorded in 1993 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1993) - Daily BreadDaily Bread (Charles Gayle album)Daily Bread is an album by American jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle featuring performances recorded in 1995 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1995)
With Jimmy Lyons
Jimmy Lyons
Jimmy Lyons was an alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit.-Biography:...
- Wee SneezaweeWee SneezaweeWee Sneezawee is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons recorded in 1983 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 4 stars.-Track listing:# "Wee Sneezawee" - 7:26# "Gossip" - 7:29...
(Black Saint, 1983)
With Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...
- Nine to Get ReadyNine to Get ReadyNine to Get Ready is an album by jazz saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell recorded in 1997 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars stating "The performances are mostly concise, emphasize ensembles and are sometimes surprisingly...
(ECM, 1997)
With Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
- The EighthThe EighthThe Eighth is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded at 2nd Freiburger Jazztage in Freiburg, Germany on November 8, 1981 and released on the Hat Hut label. The album features performances by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, William Parker and Rashid Bakr...
(HatHut, 1986) - Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)Winged Serpent is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Milan, Italy on October 22–24, 1984 and released on the Soul Note label...
(Soul Note, 1987) - Olu IwaOlu IwaOlu Iwa is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Berlin, Germany on April 12, 1986 and released on the Soul Note label. The album features a concert performance by Taylor with Thurman Barker, William Parker and Steve McCall with Earl McIntyre, Peter Brotzmann and Frank Wright added on one...
(Soul Note, 1987) - Live in BolognaLive in BolognaLive in Bologna is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Bologna on November 3, 1987 and released on the Leo label. The album features a concert performance by Taylor with Thurman Barker, William Parker, Carlos Ward and Leroy Jenkins....
(Leo, 1987) - Live in ViennaLive in Vienna (Cecil Taylor album)Live in Vienna is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Vienna on November 7, 1987 and released on the Leo label. The album features a concert performance by Taylor with Thurman Barker, William Parker, Carlos Ward and Leroy Jenkins....
(Leo, 1987) - Tzotzil/Mummers/TzotzilTzotzil/Mummers/TzotzilTzotzil/Mummers/Tzotzil is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Paris on November 13, 1987 with overdubbed poetery recorded in London on November 16 & 17...
(Leo, 1988) - Alms/Tiergarten (Spree)Alms/Tiergarten (Spree)Alms/Tiergarten is a live album by Cecil Taylor with the Cecil Taylor European Orchestra recorded in Berlin on July 2, 1988 as part of month long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label....
(FMP, 1988) - In FlorescenceIn FlorescenceIn Florescence is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded in New York City on June 8, 1989 featuring performance by Taylor, Gregg Bendian and William Parker and released on the A&M label....
(A&M, 1989) - Looking (Berlin Version) CoronaLooking (Berlin Version) CoronaLooking Corona is a live album featuring performances by Cecil Taylor with Harald Kimmig, Muneer Abdul Fataah, William Parker and Tony Oxley recorded in Berlin on November 3 & 4, 1989 and released on the FMP label....
(FMP, 1989) - Looking (Berlin Version) The Feel TrioLooking (Berlin Version) The Feel TrioLooking The Feel Trio is a live album featuring performances by Cecil Taylor with William Parker and Tony Oxley recorded in Berlin on November 2, 1989 and released on the FMP label....
(FMP, 1989) - Celebrated BlazonsCelebrated BlazonsCelebrated Blazons is a live album featuring performances by Cecil Taylor with William Parker and Tony Oxley recorded in Berlin on June 21, 1990 and released on the FMP label....
(FMP, 1990)
Films
- 2001 - Inside Out in the Open (2001). Directed by Alan Roth. Asymmetric Pictures. Distributed by Third World Newsreel.