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William Parker (musician)

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Conductor
William Parker,  Arts for Art - Vision Festival 2024. Photo by Marek Lazarski

William Parker
Parker performs at Jazzfestival Saalfelden in 2010
Background information
Born (1952-01-10) January 10, 1952 (age 72)
New York City, U.S.
GenresFree Jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, poet
InstrumentDouble bass
Years active1970s–present
LabelsCentering, 577 Records, AUM Fidelity, Intakt, Tzadik, Thirsty Ear, RogueArt
Websitewilliamparker.net
William Parker, Vision Festival 2008. Photo by Marek Lazarski

William Parker (born January 10, 1952) is an American free jazz double bassist. Beginning in the 1980s, Parker played with Cecil Taylor for over a decade, and he has led the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra since 1981.[1] The Village Voice named him "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time"[2] and DownBeat has called him "one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz".[3]

Early life and career

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Parker was born in the Bronx, New York City, and grew up in the Melrose housing project.[1] His first instrument was the trumpet, followed by the trombone and cello.[4] Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, but in his youth studied with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware in learning the tradition.[3]

While Parker has been active since the early 1970s, he first came to public attention playing with pianist Cecil Taylor in the 1980s.[1] He has performed in many of Peter Brötzmann's groups,[5] and played with saxophonist David S. Ware from 1989 until his last concert performance in 2011.[6] He is a member of the Other Dimensions In Music cooperative.[7] His work as leader came to greater prominence in the 1990s with groups such as the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and In Order to Survive.[8][9]

Parker's "breakout" albums were released in the early 2000s, first with the William Parker Quartet (with saxophonist Rob Brown, drummer Hamid Drake, and trumpeter Lewis Barnes): O'Neal's Porch was included in Best of 2001 lists in The New York Times,[10] DownBeat,[3] and the Jazz Journalists Association;[11] in 2002, Raining on the Moon, featuring guest Leena Conquest, received rave reviews in publications including Pitchfork.[12] The album Sound Unity by the William Parker Quartet was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. Petit Oiseau was chosen as one of the best jazz disks of 2008 by The Wall Street Journal,[13] the BBC's Radio Three,[14] The Village Voice,[15] and PopMatters.[16] Double Sunrise Over Neptune, also released in 2008, was listed as one of the top 10 2008 (through end of August) Jazz CDs at Amazon.[17]

Increasing prominence throughout the 2000s also led to a revisiting of his back catalogue, with the release of a number of early recordings.[18]

Parker is a prominent musician in the New York City experimental jazz scene, where he leads a number of groups and is associated with the Vision Festival, organized by his wife, the dancer Patricia Nicholson; he is also frequently noted for his community dedication, mentorship,[1] and status as "free-jazz caretaker"[4][1] and "unofficial mayor of the New York improvisational scene".[19]

He has performed at music festivals around the world, including the Guelph Jazz Festival in southern Ontario.[20]

Parker frequently plays arco. Bass has been his primary instrument for the duration of his career, but he also plays trumpet, tuba, bamboo flutes, shakuhachi, flute, double reeds, the West African kora, gembri, and donso ngoni, an instrument first introduced to him by Don Cherry.[3]

In 2006, Parker was awarded the Resounding Vision Award from Nameless Sound.[21] In March 2007, his book, Who Owns Music?, was published by buddy's knife jazzedition in Cologne, Germany.[22] Who Owns Music? assembles his political thoughts, poems, and musicological essays. In June 2011, Parker's second book, Conversations, a collection of interviews with notable free jazz musicians and forward thinkers, mainly from the African-American community, was published by RogueArt.[23]

Discography

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As leader

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Release year Artist Title Label
1980 William Parker Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace Centering Records
1994 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra Flowers Grow in My Room Centering
1995 William Parker In Order to Survive Black Saint
1995 William Parker Testimony Zero In
1996 William Parker / In Order to Survive Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy Homestead
1997 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra Sunrise in the Tone World AUM Fidelity
1997 William Parker Lifting the Sanctions No More
1998 William Parker / In Order to Survive The Peach Orchard AUM Fidelity
1999 William Parker / In Order to Survive Posium Pendasem FMP
2000 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra Mayor of Punkville AUM Fidelity
2000 William Parker Trio Painter's Spring Thirsty Ear
2001 William Parker Quartet O'Neal's Porch AUM Fidelity
2001 William Parker Song Cycle Boxholder
2002 William Parker Quartet featuring Leena Conquest Raining on the Moon Thirsty Ear
2002 William Parker Clarinet Trio Bob's Pink Cadillac Eremite
2002 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra Raincoat in the River Eremite
2002 William Parker Trio ... and William Danced Ayler Records
2003 William Parker Violin Trio Scrapbook Thirsty Ear
2003 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra Mass for the Healing of the World Black Saint
2003 William Parker Fractured Dimensions FMP
2003 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra Spontaneous Splasc(H)
2004 William Parker Luc's Lantern Thirsty Ear
2005 William Parker Quartet Sound Unity AUM Fidelity
2006 William Parker Bass Quartet featuring Charles Gayle Requiem Splasc(H)
2006 William Parker Long Hidden: The Olmec Series AUM Fidelity
2006 William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra For Percy Heath Victo
2007 William Parker Double Quartet Alphaville Suite RogueArt
2007 William Parker / The Inside Songs Of Curtis Mayfield The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield: Live in Rome Rai Trade
2007 William Parker / Raining on the Moon Corn Meal Dance AUM Fidelity
2008 William Parker Double Sunrise Over Neptune AUM Fidelity
2008 William Parker Quartet Petit Oiseau AUM Fidelity
2010 William Parker I Plan to Stay a Believer: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield AUM Fidelity
2010 William Parker Organ Quartet Uncle Joe's Spirit House Centering
2010 William Parker At Somewhere There Barnyard Records
2011 William Parker Crumbling In The Shadows Is Fraulien Miller's Stale Cake Centering
2011 William Parker & ICI Ensemble Winter Sun Crying NEOS Jazz
2012 William Parker Orchestra Essence of Ellington: Live in Milano Centering
2012 William Parker Centering. Unreleased Early Recordings 1976–1987 NoBusiness
2013 William Parker Quartet Live In Wroclove ForTune
2013 William Parker Wood Flute Songs AUM Fidelity
2015 William Parker For Those Who Are, Still AUM Fidelity
2015 William Parker / Raining on the Moon Great Spirit AUM Fidelity
2016 William Parker ft. Lisa Sokolov and Cooper-Moore Stan's Hat Flapping in the Wind Centering
2017 William Parker Quartets Meditation/Resurrection AUM Fidelity
2018 William Parker Lake Of Light: Compositions For Aquasonics Gotta Let It Out
2018 William Parker Voices Fall From The Sky Centering
2018 William Parker Flower In a Stained-Glass Window -&- The Blinking of The Ear Centering
2019 William Parker / In Order to Survive Live/Shapeshifter AUM Fidelity
2021 William Parker Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World (Volumes 1–10)[24] Centering
2021 William Parker Mayan Space Station AUM Fidelity[25]
2021 William Parker Painters Winter AUM Fidelity[26]
2022 William Parker Universal Tonality Centering

As co-leader

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Release year Artist Title Label
1994 Peter Brötzmann / Gregg Bendian / William Parker Sacred Scrape / Secret Response Rastascan
1996 Derek Bailey, John Zorn, William Parker Harras Avant
1996 Rashid Bakr / Frode Gjerstad / William Parker Seeing New York From The Ear Cadence Jazz Records
1999 David Budbill & William Parker Zen Mountains/Zen Streets: A Duet For Poet & Improvised Bass Boxholder
2000 Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, William Parker 2 Days in April Eremite
2001 William Parker & Hamid Drake Piercing the Veil AUM Fidelity
2002 Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, Michael Wertmüller Nothung In Tone Music
2003 William Parker, Joe Morris, Hamid Drake Eloping with the Sun Riti
2006 Kidd Jordan / Hamid Drake / William Parker Palm of Soul AUM Fidelity
2007 William Parker & Hamid Drake Summer Snow AUM Fidelity
2007 Anders Gahnold, William Parker, & Hamid Drake The Last Dances Ayler Records
2008 Anthony Braxton, Milford Graves, William Parker Beyond Quantum Tzadik
2009 Gerald Cleaver, William Parker, Craig Taborn Farmers by Nature AUM Fidelity
2010 Ninni Morgia & William Parker Prism Ultramarine
2011 Farmers by Nature (Cleaver, Parker, Taborn) Out of This World's Distortions AUM Fidelity
2013 William Parker / Conny Bauer / Hamid Drake Tender Exploration Jazzwerkstatt
2014 Billy Bang & William Parker Medicine Buddha NoBusiness
2014 Farmers by Nature (Cleaver, Parker, Taborn) Love and Ghosts AUM Fidelity
2015 Oliver Lake & William Parker To Roy Intakt
2017 William Parker & Stefano Scodanibbio Bass Duo Centering
2020 Parker, Matthew Shipp, Daniel Carter, Gerald Cleaver Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1 577 Records
2022 Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava 2 Blues for Cecil TUM Records
2022 Peter Brötzmann, Milford Graves, and William Parker Historic Music Past Tense Future Black Editions Archive
2024 William Parker, Hamid Drake, Cooper-Moore Heart Trio AUM Fidelity

As sideman

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With Fred Anderson

With Billy Bang

With Albert Beger

  • Evolving Silence, Vol. 1 (2005)
  • Evolving Silence, Vol. 2 (2006)

With John Blum (pianist)

  • Astrogeny (Eremite, 2005)

With Peter Brötzmann

With Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet

With the Brötzmann Clarinet Project

With Brötzmann's Die Like A Dog Quartet

With Rob Brown

With Roy Campbell, Joe McPhee & Warren Smith

With Daniel Carter and Federico Ughi

  • LIVE! (577 Records, 2017)
  • Navajo Sunrise (Rudi Records. 2013)
  • The Dream (577 Records, 2006)

With Bill Dixon

With Hamid Drake and Bindu

With Marco Eneidi

With Charles Gayle

With Frode Gjerstad

  • Remember To Forget (Circulasione Totale, 1998)
  • Ultima (Cadence Jazz Records, 1999)
  • The Other Side (Ayler Records, 2006)
  • On Reade Street (FMR Records, 2008)

With Alan Glover

  • Kings Of Infinite Space (Omolade Music 2006)
  • The Juice Quartet Archives (Omolade Music 2010)

With Wayne Horvitz

With Gianni Lenoci

  • Secret Garden (Silta)

With Frank Lowe

  • Black Beings (ESP-Disk', 1973)
  • The Loweski (ESP-Disk', 2012)

With Jimmy Lyons

With Raphe Malik

With Michael Marcus

  • Under The Wire (Enja, 1990)

With Thollem McDonas & Nels Cline

With the Melodic Art-Tet (Charles Brackeen, Ahmed Abdullah, Parker, Roger Blank, Tony Waters)

With Roscoe Mitchell

With Jemeel Moondoc

With Joe Morris

With Other Dimensions In Music

With Ivo Perelman

With Hugh Ragin

With Matthew Shipp

With Steve Swell

With Cecil Taylor

With David S Ware

Books

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Films

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Blumenfeld, Larry (May 26, 2002). "Music; A Father to the Followers of Free Jazz". The New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  2. ^ Scherstuhl, Alan (February 8, 2021). "The Irreducible William Parker". The New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d French, David (October 2008). "William Parker: His Own 'New Thing'". DownBeat. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Cantor, Dave (January 29, 2021). "William Parker And The Observance Of Beauty". DownBeat. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  5. ^ Shoemaker, Bill (April 25, 2019). "Peter Brötzmann/William Parker/Hamid Drake: Never Too Late but Always Too Early". JazzTimes. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  6. ^ Cantor, Dave (November 7, 2019). "The Focused Energy of Saxophonist David S. Ware". DownBeat. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  7. ^ Sharpe, John (December 17, 2006). "Other Dimensions In Music At The JVC Jazz Festival In Paris, Oct. 19-20". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Fordham, John (July 5, 2019). "William Parker/In Order to Survive: ShapeShifter Live review – rattlingly rebellious avant-garde jazz". The Guardian. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  9. ^ Hendrickson, Tad (February 13, 2013). "The Blueprints of Modern Bass". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  10. ^ Ratliff, Ben (December 23, 2001). "MUSIC: The Year in Classical Music: The Critics' Choices; The Value of Humor And Recklessness". The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  11. ^ Masters, Greg (2002). "Top Ten Consensus". JazzHouse.org. The Jazz Journalists Association. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  12. ^ Dahlen, Christ (August 20, 2002). "William Parker: Raining on the Moon". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  13. ^ Blumenfeld, Larry (December 27, 2008). "The Best Musicians Span Continents, Generations, by Larry Blumenfeld". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  14. ^ "Jazz on 3, Best Albums of the Year". Bbc.co.uk. December 22, 2008. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  15. ^ Davis, Francis (December 31, 2008). "2008 Voice Jazz Poll Winners". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  16. ^ Layman, Will. "The Best Jazz of 2008, by Will Layman". Popmatters.com. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  17. ^ "Best Jazz of 2008". Amazon.com. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  18. ^ Spicer, Daniel (2012). "William Parker Centering: Unreleased Early Recordings 1976–1987 Review". Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  19. ^ Michalowski, Piotr (October 2013). "Bassist William Parker: The mayor of improv". Ann Arbor Observer. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  20. ^ "William Parker solo (USA)". Guelph Jazz Festival. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  21. ^ "Nameless: 20 Years of Sound". Nameless Sound. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  22. ^ Parker, William (2007). Who Owns Music?. Cologne, Germany: Buddy's Knife Jazzedition. ISBN 978-3-00-020141-7. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  23. ^ "William Parker Conversations". September 30, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  24. ^ Smith, Stewart (January 19, 2021). "William Parker Accentuates the "Free" in Free Jazz". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  25. ^ "William Parker – Mayan Space Station". Aum Fidelity. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  26. ^ "William Parker – Painters Winter". Aum Fidelity. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
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