William Parker (bass, double reeds, nGoni)
William Parker is the premier freejazz bassist/multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, author, educator and influencer. He has been called “one of the most inventive bassists/leaders since [Charles] Mingus,” and “the creative heir to Jimmy Garrison and Paul Chambers…directly influenced by ‘60s avant-gardists like Sirone, Henry Grimes and Alan Silva.” The Village Voice called him, “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time” and Time Out New York named him one of the “50 Greatest New York Musicians of All Time.” Parker’s current active bands include the large-band Little Huey Creative Orchestra, the Raining on the Moon Sextet, the In Order to Survive Quartet, Stan’s Hat Flapping in the Wind, the Cosmic Mountain Quintet with Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, and Cooper-Moore, as well as a deep and ongoing solo bass study. His music has been released by AUM Fidelity, RogueArt and his own Centering Records, among many others. He has recorded over 150 albums, published six books, and taught and mentored hundreds of young musicians and artists.
He has been a key figure in the New York and European creative music scenes since the 1970s, and has worked all over the world. He was an important member of the Cecil Taylor Unit, as well as with Peter Brotzmann, Milford Graves, Billy Bang, Roy Campbell and David S. Ware, among many others.
William Parker works all over the world but he always returns to New York’s Lower East Side, where he has lived since 1975.
Photo Credit: Peter Gannushkin