Jazz Articles about Evan Parker

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Evan Parker/Phillip Wachsmann/Hugh Davies/Eddie Provost: 888

by Rex Butters
September 7, 2004

These four esteemed improvisers participated with others of their kind at the New Music Days series of concerts as part of the Southend International Jazz Festival in 2003. To engender endless numerological speculation, they chose to perform at 8pm on 8/8, and from those performances come a solo piece each, plus a lengthy ensemble expedition into the unknown that surpasses expectations built from the solos.

Piccolo pizzicatos and raw scraping open Phillip Wachsmann's mercurial display. A brief melodic ...

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Evan Parker's Electro-Accoustic Ensemble: Memory/Vision

by Dan McClenaghan
June 8, 2004

In 1968 Miles Davis' use of the Fender Rhodes electric piano on Filles de Kilimanjaro caused quite s stir. This same year saw a seminal classical/electronic music release entitled Switched on Bach by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos, a set of Johann Sebastian Bach compositions played on the then-new music synthesizer. 1968 was also the year the Beatles pioneered the use of studio wizardry on songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever" and “I Am the Walrus." The point being this: jazz has ...

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A Fireside Chat with Evan Parker

by AAJ Staff
February 21, 2004

In 1968, poet and noted authority on black music Amiri Baraka wrote, “Most jazz critics have been white Americans, but most important jazz musicians have not been." Politics of race aside, in 1968, Baraka's words were not opinion, but fact. John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Cecil Taylor, Art Blakey, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Eric Dolphy, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Roy Haynes (all of whom he mentions in Black ...

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Evan Parker: Alder Brook & Birds and Blades

by A. Henkin
February 8, 2004

Evan Parker, perhaps the John Coltrane of English music, has made a career of lending his utterly unique approach to any number of long-standing groups and individual recordings. By virtue of his complex musicianship and extremely open approach to group playing, he fits seamlessly in any configuration into which he is drawn, never dominating or flashy, always bludgeoningly tasteful - one could not write better parts for him than he seems to snatch out of the air. ...

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On Tour With The Evan Parker Trio

by Frank Rubolino
November 29, 2003

With Alexander Von Schlippenbach and Paul Lytton Barnevelder Movement Arts, Houston Texas May 2, 2003

For nearly four decades, Evan Parker has been creating exciting music in the trio context, and Alexander Von Schlippenbach and Paul Lytton have shared extensively in this creative process. They were reunited once more in Houston as part of the trio’s North American tour to 16 cities. Originally, Barry Guy was to have been part of the band, but personal matters ...

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Evan Parker: The Snake Decides

by John Eyles
November 14, 2003

"We play to the informed listener. We don't play to the person who's tumbled in for the first time. We're not looking to make it easy." Evan Parker, 2003.The music on Parker's Psi label, particularly his own, remains faithful to the spirit of the quote above. To get the most out of Parker, one should be prepared to invest some time. Such investment is repaid many times over. More than most, Parker's musical universe can seem self-contained, to ...

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Evan Parker/George Lewis: From Saxophone & Trombone

by Glenn Astarita
April 15, 2003

Originally issued on LP in 1980, From Saxophone & Trombone ought to offer fans of trombonist George Lewis and saxophonist Evan Parker quite a bit to get revved up about. No frills or hidden agendas to be found throughout these five improvisation based works. You name it--they cover it! The duo explores various harmonic twists and turns amid microtonal sounds and ethereal soundscapes. They dig deep from within while also displaying the utmost improvisational acumen, as most of us would ...