EP 40: William Parker on the Spiritual Essence of Music and Improvisation - a podcast by Musicians For Musicians, MFM

"Music is Defined as Anything that is Beautiful, and What Makes Something Beautiful is Music"

Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is free jazz bass master William Parker. Parker was born in the Bronx, New York City, and grew up in the Melrose housing project. His first instruments were the trumpet, trombone and cello. Parker had no formal training as a classical player, but in his youth studied with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis and Wilbur Ware.

In the 1980s, he first came to public attention playing with Cecil Taylor. He has also performed and recorded with Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, John Zorn, Hamid Drake, Anthony Braxton, Milford Graves, Oliver Lake, Daniel Carter, Billy Bang, Andrew Cyrille, Matthew Shipp, Roy Campbell, Warren Smith, Joe McPhee, Roscoe Mitchell, Jemeel Moondoc, Joe Morris, Steve Swell, David S. Ware, Leena Conquest, and many others. He also led several groups, such as the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and In Order to Survive.

His discography is extensive, with dozens of albums as a leader and co-leader, and with the aforementioned artists. They received very favorable reviews from publications such as Downbeat, The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, 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, dancer / choreographer Patricia Nicholson. He is also a member of the Other Dimensions in Music cooperative, and co-founder of the musician's non-profit organization Arts For Art. He has performed at many prestigious venues and music festivals around the world. In addition to double bass, Parker also plays trumpet, tuba, bamboo flutes, shakuhachi, flute, double reeds, Kora, gembri, and donso ngoni.

In 2006, Parker was awarded the Resounding Vision Award from Nameless Sound. In March 2007, his book of political thoughts, poems, and musicological essays, Who Owns Music?, was published by Buddy’s Knife Jazzedition in Cologne, Germany.  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. 

Parker is frequently noted for his community dedication, mentorship, and status as "unofficial mayor of the New York improvisational scene." The Village Voice named him "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time" and Downbeat has called him "one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz."

Topics discussed:

His beginnings as a musician and what led him to free jazz, his work with Cecil Taylor, Roy Campbell, Hamid Drake, Jimmy Garrison, and many others, his work and long association with Arts for Art (AFA), the Vision Festival, the Other Dimensions in Music Cooperative, AFA's kinship with other musician's organizations, his thoughts on hip hop, social media, and modern music technology, racism in America, the spiritual essence of music (especially free / improvised music), the future of free jazz, and his experience, thoughts, and advice about the political and economic climate of the the music business.

Music on this episode:

"Give Me Back My Drum"
"It's A Great Day to Be Dead"
"Canyons of Light"

All Music by William Parker

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