William Parker (musician)

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]

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.
Genres	Free Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, poet
Instrument	Double bass
Years active	1970s–present
Labels	Centering, 577 Records, AUM Fidelity, Intakt, Tzadik, Thirsty Ear, RogueArt
Website	williamparker.net

William Parker, Vision Festival 2008. Photo by Marek Lazarski

Early life and career

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

As leader

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

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

With Fred Anderson

• Blue Winter (Eremite, 2005)

With Billy Bang

• The Fire from Within (Soul Note, 1981)
• Live at Carlos 1 (Soul Note, 1984)

With Albert Beger

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

With John Blum (pianist)

• Astrogeny (Eremite, 2005)

With Peter Brötzmann

• Never Too Late But Always Too Early (Eremite, 2003)
• The Bishop's Move (Les Disques Victo, 2004)

With Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet

• Stone/Water (Okka Disk, 2000)
• Short Visit To Nowhere (Okka Disk, 2002)
• Broken English (Okka Disk, 2002)
• American Landscapes 1 (Okka Disc, 2007)
• American Landscapes 2 (Okka Disc, 2007)

With the Brötzmann Clarinet Project

• Berlin Djungle (FMP, 1987)

With Brötzmann's Die Like A Dog Quartet

• Die Like a Dog: Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert Ayler (FMP, 1994)
• Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 1 (FMP, 1998)
• Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 2 (FMP, 1999)
• From Valley to Valley (Eremite, 1999)
• Aoyama Crows (FMP, 2002)
• Close Up (FMP, 2011)

With Rob Brown

• Breath Rhyme (Silkheart Records, 1990)
• High Wire (Soul Note, 1996)
• Round the Bend (Bleu Regard, 2002)
• The Big Picture (Marge, 2004)
• Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity, 2008)

With Roy Campbell, Joe McPhee & Warren Smith

• Tribute to Albert Ayler Live at the Dynamo (Marge, 2009)

With Daniel Carter and Federico Ughi

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

With Bill Dixon

• Thoughts (Soul Note, 1985 [1987])
• Vade Mecum (Soul Note, 1994)
• Vade Mecum II (Soul Note, 1994)

With Hamid Drake and Bindu

• Blissful (RogueArt, 2008)

With Marco Eneidi

• Cherry Box (Eremite, 2000)

With Charles Gayle

• Touchin' on Trane (FMP, 1991 [1993])
• Translations (Silkheart, 1993)
• Raining Fire (Silkheart, 1993)
• Blue Shadows (Silkheart, 1993 [2008])
• More Live at the Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory, 1993)
• Consecration (Black Saint, 1993)
• Daily Bread (Black Saint, 1995)
• Live at Crescendo (Ayler, 2008)

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

• Some Order, Long Understood (Black Saint, 1982)

With Gianni Lenoci

• Secret Garden (Silta)

With Frank Lowe

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

With Jimmy Lyons

• Wee Sneezawee (Black Saint, 1983)
• The Box Set (Ayler Records, 2003)

With Raphe Malik

• Last Set: Live at the 1369 Jazz Club (Boxholder, 2004)
• ConSequences (Eremite, 1999)
• Companions (Eremite, 2002)

With Michael Marcus

• Under The Wire (Enja, 1990)

With Thollem McDonas & Nels Cline

• The Gowanus Session (Porter, 2012)

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

• Melodic Art–Tet (NoBusiness, 2013)

With Roscoe Mitchell

• This Dance Is for Steve McCall (Black Saint, 1993)
• Nine to Get Ready (ECM, 1997)

With Jemeel Moondoc

• First Feeding (Muntu, 1977)
• The Evening of the Blue Men (Muntu, 1979)
• Konstanze's Delight (Soul Note, 1983)
• Nostalgia in Times Square (Soul Note, 1986)
• New World Pygmies (Eremite, 1999)
• New World Pygmies vol. 2 (Eremite, 2002)
• Live at Glenn Miller Café Vol 1 (Ayler, 2002)
• Live in Paris (Cadence, 2003)
• Muntu Recordings (NoBusiness, 2009)

With Joe Morris

• Illuminate (Leo, 1995)
• Elsewhere (Homestead, 1996)
• Invisible Weave (No More, 1997)
• Altitude (AUM Fidelity, 2012)

With Other Dimensions In Music

• Other Dimensions In Music (Silkheart, 1990)
• Now! (Aum Fidelity, 1998)
• Time Is of the Essence Is Beyond Time (Aum Fidelity, 2000)
• Live at the Sunset (Marge, 2007)
• Kaiso Stories (Silkheart, 2011)

With Ivo Perelman

• Cama de Terra (Homestead, 1996)
• En Adir (Music & Arts, 1997)
• Sound Hierarchy (Music & Arts, 1997)
• Serendipity (Leo, 2013)
• Book of Sound (Leo, 2014)

With Hugh Ragin

• Revelation (Justin Time, 2004)

With Matthew Shipp

• Points (Silkheart, 1992)
• Circular Temple (Quinton, 1992)
• Zo (Rise, 1994)
• Critical Mass (2.13.61, 1995)
• Prism (Brinkman, 1996)
• The Flow of X (2.13.61, 1997)
• By the Law of Music (HatART, 1997)
• The Multiplication Table (hatOLOGY, 1998)
• Strata (hatOLOGY, 1998)
• DNA (Thirsty Ear, 1999)
• Magnetism (Bleu Regard, 1999)
• Pastoral Composure (Thirsty Ear, 2000)
• Expansion, Power, Release (hatOLOGY, 2001)
• New Orbit (Thirsty Ear, 2001)
• Equilibrium (Thirsty Ear, 2003)
• Our Lady of the Flowers (RogueArt, 2015)

With Steve Swell

• Swimming in a Galaxy of Goodwill and Sorrow (RogueArt, 2007)

With Cecil Taylor

• The Eighth (HatHut, 1986)
• Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) (Soul Note, 1987)
• Olu Iwa (Soul Note, 1987)
• Live in Bologna (Leo, 1987)
• Live in Vienna (Leo, 1987)
• Tzotzil/Mummers/Tzotzil (Leo, 1988)
• Alms/Tiergarten (Spree) (FMP, 1988)
• In Florescence (A&M, 1989)
• Looking (Berlin Version) Corona (FMP, 1989)
• Looking (Berlin Version) The Feel Trio (FMP, 1989)
• Celebrated Blazons (FMP, 1990)
• 2 Ts for a Lovely T, (Codanza Records, 1990 [2002])
• CT: The Dance Project (FMP, 1990 [2008])

With David S Ware

• Passage to Music (Silkheart 1988)
• Great Bliss, Vol. 1 (Silkheart 1991)
• Great Bliss, Vol. 2 (Silkheart 1991)
• Flight of I (DIW 1992)
• Third Ear Recitation (DIW 1992)
• Earthquation (DIW 1994)
• Cryptology (Homestead 1995)
• Oblations and Blessings (Silkheart, 1996)
• DAO (Homestead 1996)
• Godspelized (DIW, 1996)
• Wisdom of Uncertainty (AUM Fidelity, 1997)
• Go See the World (Columbia, 1998)
• Surrendered (Columbia, 2000)
• Corridors & Parallels (AUM Fidelity, 2001)
• Freedom Suite (AUM Fidelity, 2002)
• Threads (Thirsty Ear, 2003)
• Live in the World (Thirsty Ear, 2005)
• BalladWare (Thirsty Ear, 1999 [2006])
• Renunciation (AUM Fidelity, 2007)
• Live in Vilnius (NoBusiness Records 2007)
• Shakti (AUM Fidelity, 2009)
• Onecept (AUM Fidelity, 2009)
• Planetary Unknown (AUM 2010)
• Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011 (AUM 2011)
• Live in New York, 2010 (AUM Fidelity, 2017)

Books

• Who Owns Music? (buddy's knife jazzedition, 2007)
• Conversations (RogueArt, 2010)

Films

• 2001 – Inside Out in the Open (2001). Directed by Alan Roth. Asymmetric Pictures. Distributed by Third World Newsreel.

References

1. 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. French, David (October 2008). "William Parker: His Own 'New Thing'". DownBeat. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
4. 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.

External links

• A Sessionography
• FMP releases
• William Parker's book "who owns music?" at www.buddysknife.de
• 38 minute mp3 interview
• Review of "Double Sunrise Over Neptune" (2008)
• 2001 interview from Vision Festival program