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.
Meditation / Resurrection
*2023 repress* "Meditation / Resurrection is a double-album presenting a bounty of beautiful new William Parker compositions performed by two of his flagship ensembles, the Quartet -&- In Order To Survive. It was recorded & mixed live during a one-da…
No Joke!
ESP is proud to present a new William Parker album in collaboration with his wife Patricia Nicholson. No Joke! is unapologetically political, facing down injustice and inequality and other “in”s with artistic integrity and “outside” music.
Some Order, Long Understood
** original copy ** 'The music is one of two tracks that make up the entire album, one on each side as it was originally released as an LP, and each over 20 minutes long. The other side is the titled “Psalm”. The recording was made live to two track …
Universal Tonality
William Parker’s Universal Tonality documents an epic performance which brings his titular concept to full, vibrant life. An exquisite example of this system in practice, it features a truly once-in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries an…
Welcome Adventure! Vol. 2
*In process of stocking* How do you welcome adventure? Longtime comrades, legendary Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver investigated this in their first album, Welcome Adventure, Vol. 1, resulting in 577 Records’ best-sell…
O Life, O Light Vol. 1
Originally from Kingsport, Tennessee, New York-based Zoh Amba is a notable rising star in the avant-garde music scene. Growing up in the Appalachian mountains, Amba practiced saxophone to the forest that surrounded her home before she later traveled …
The Victoriaville Tape
'Both bassists had made regular appearances in Victo over the past two decades, but no one in the audience could have guessed that it would be Kowald's last. The German improviser died in New York City four months later. The French-Canadian radio was…
After You Gone
Reverberations from bassist Peter Kowald's passing continue to be felt two years later. Last year, a long-time bass quartet with one sub gathered to bathe Kowald's spirit in a bass balm. Comprised of close associates or admirers of Kowald, this quart…
Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai
Ferocious JP / US free jazz bomb. A rare meeting between the NYC free jazz scene and the Japanese free music scene. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & liner notes by Alan Cummings.
Live At The Sunset
*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Live At The Sunset by Other Dimensions In Music (Roy Campbell trumpet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, recorder & double flageolet, Daniel Carter alto saxophone, flute, trumpet & voice, William Parker double bass…
The Big Picture
* 2022 stock * Rob Brown's Big Picture Quartet includes William Parker, Hamid Drake, and Roy Campbell, the band responsible for the sublime Raining on the Moon with Lena Conquest, recorded as the William Parker Quartet, as well as playing together in…
Historic Music Past Tense Future
Black Editions presents “Historic Music Past Tense Future”, the first ever album to feature the meeting of Peter Brötzmann, Milford Graves and William Parker. Three of the towering figures in the history of Free Jazz forge an incredibly vital free mu…
Village Mothership
In the late 1980s / early ’90s, pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey were young musicians taking part in the cultural ferment happening on New York City’s Lower East Side, a place where free jazz, avant-rock and all manner of creative arts a…
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 Pa…
Painters Winter
One of the iconic and enduring music leaders to emerge in the world over the last half century, William Parker continues to raise the bar higher.
Mayan Space Station
One of the iconic and enduring music leaders to emerge in the world over the last half century, William Parker continues to raise the bar higher.
Migration of Silence into and Out of the Tone World
That William Parker is a bassist, composer and bandleader of extraordinary spirit and imaginative drive is common knowledge among any with an interest in the progressive jazz / any music scene of the past 25 years and more. What's become increasingly…
Some Good News
Double CD documenting the magic meeting of one of the all-time great rhythm sections in jazz: percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker, with London’s brilliant Black Top (Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas) and Elaine Mitchener. Across two set…
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 …
Live / Shapeshifter
Live / Shapeshifter is the exemplary new double-album from one of master bassist - composer - improviser William Parker's eternal flagship groups, recorded live and presenting all-new compositions, including the extended suite Eternal Is the Voice of…