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William Parker

William Parker (1952) is an American free jazz double bassist, multi-instrumentalist, poet and composer. With his wife, dancer Patricia Nicholson, Parker founded the Improvisers Collective, an organization that presented free jazz in combination with other types of spontaneous performance.  Parker's style is based on a tradition of self-expression and experimentation. His arco work is possibly the most fascinating aspect of his idiom; Parker excels at the creation of dense, hyperactive streaks of color, gleaned from the inherent harmonic properties of the instrument.

William Parker (1952) is an American free jazz double bassist, multi-instrumentalist, poet and composer. With his wife, dancer Patricia Nicholson, Parker founded the Improvisers Collective, an organization that presented free jazz in combination with other types of spontaneous performance.  Parker's style is based on a tradition of self-expression and experimentation. His arco work is possibly the most fascinating aspect of his idiom; Parker excels at the creation of dense, hyperactive streaks of color, gleaned from the inherent harmonic properties of the instrument.

Tender Exploration
“Tender Exploration” reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle”, it’s an enormous metallic machine on spindly legs, walking like a toddler, but also steaming, mumbling,  panting, a creature full of energy, and inhabited by a fire demon.  “…
Touchin' On Trane
"This is Charles Gayle's most accessible work. Gayle's mastery of free jazz is blended with a more traditional compositional style of jazz on this disc. Touchin' on Trane is composed of five original songs, and even includes ex-Coltrane drummer Ra…
Melodic Art-Tet
**CD edition** 1974 recordings at WKCR in NYC from the quintet of Charles Brackeen (flute & sax), Ahmed Abdullah (trumpet), William Parker (bass), Roger Blank (drums) and Tony Waters (percussion), beautifully recorded and essential free improvisation…
Altitude
Altitude is one of two live recordings to be released in July 2012 as part of the celebration of AUM Fidelity’s 15th anniversary. It documents the first-ever performance by esteemed veteran improvisers Joe Morris, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver as…
Centering
Milestone! The music on these six discs comes from roughly the first decade of William Parker's career, one of the most intensely creative periods enjoyed by any musician of any era. William Parker's Centering (No Business CD 42-47), as the subtitle …
Crumbling in the Shadows Is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake
A triple CD limited box set of 3 CDs and a 48 page booklet, introducting 2 new studio CDs of solo bass, and a reissue of William Parker's out of print 1995 solo bass album "Testimony". A strictly limited/one-time only edition of 1000 copies (987 to…
Black Man's Blues
Recorded 29th May 1977 at A Day in Solidarity with Soweto: A Fund Raiser, Harlem Fight-Back, 1 East 125th St., New York Violinist Billy Bang made his recording debut as a leader with the Survival Ensemble, the first working band he ever led, on New …
Conversations
William Parker has long taken an active role in the presentation of his own art (self-produced records/CDs, concerts, festivals, publications) and that of others.  That initiative continues with this major work, an anthology of musician-to-musician i…
I Plan To Stay A Believer
The Inside Songs Of Curtis Mayfield. "Bassist/composer William Parker is among the most active and highly regarded musicians performing today. The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield  is the first project in his 35-year career devoted to the music of ano…
Double Sunrise Over Neptune
The third and final installment of AUM Fidelity's collaborative releases with Arts For Art, Inc. presenting specially commissioned works which made their debut at Vision Festival XII in June 2007. And it is William Parker's this time me a tell you IA…
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