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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.

El Templo
A perfect matching for a free jazz collective piano trio, bringing frequent collaborators Argentinian pianist Paula Shocron and drummer Pablo Diaz, part of the SLD trio heard on Listen! Foundation and Hatology, together with NY bass legend William Parker, recording in NYC for four powerful improvisations of great technical prowess and attentive explorative interaction. The document you hold in your hands is a very special and beautiful document and for many reasons. There is a balance, an equili…
Gowanus Sessions II
Gowanus Session II was seven years in the planning. Thollem McDonas, Nels Cline, and William Parker convened at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn on January 3rd, 2012 and recorded two complete albums. The first was Gowanus Session I, released by Porter Records in April of 2012. GS II was put aside to eventually complete the five-album palindromic cycle of trio albums Nels and Thollem ambitiously set out to realize. The albums in between include Radical Empathy with Michael Wimberly (Relative Pitch,…
No Coming, No Going. The Music of Peter Kuhn 1978-1979
Live broadcast recording on December 19, 1978, at Columbia University Radio WKCR-FM, NYC. Originally issued on LP, edited and in slightly different order, as Livin’ Right on Kuhn’s Big City Records (LPK 225). Free-jazz woodwind specialist Peter Kuhn’s road to San Diego has been long and harrowing. Born in the San Fernando Valley and raised in L.A., Kuhn’s career flourished in the Bay Area and eventually led him to New York at the invitation of Anthony Braxton in the mid-’70s, where he played wit…
Medicine Buddha
\\\"Billy Bang was a brilliant human being, always much more than himself, especially when he surrendered to his true calling-that of musician, one who transforms music into magic, dancing instead of walking, jumping instead standing still. Billy Bang was an American original, an original musician, an organic person who had tapped into the river of sound and was riding on a boat drenched in blues-soul-funk and space.Billy is gone and unfortunately for the world there will never ever be another p…
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. "The dominant influences at this time were John Coltrane and Albert Ayler (both of whom had passed away relatively recently); and Ornette Coleman (who had not yet gone Harmolodic). Although some musicians had sought to push the Fire Music of late C…
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