The Fire Inside
* William Parker - In Order To Survive: For Robeson (7.5 mb) | Holiday For Hypocrites (11.0 mb)
From Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy : Homestead Records : HMS231-2
For longer than I’ve been alive, William Parker has been pouring his heart and soul into making some of the most important free jazz sounds out there. He’s played with an incredible number of gifted/brilliant free jazz musicians. In fact, if you want to seek out more about this genre, all you have to do is follow the path that William Parker has blazed.
I first heard about Mr. Parker from an interview he did with the totally excellent, but sadly defunct zine, Tuba Frenzy. Luckily, I just happened to read that interview during a particularly impressionable period in my musical searchings. I’d just started to get into jazz, but was kind of bored with the traditional stuff. I knew that there had to be more out there but just didn’t know where to look. Luckily, Tuba Frenzy pointed me in the right direction by introducing me to the wonderful sound world of Mr. William Parker.
William Parker is involved in so many different groups that it’s hard to pinpoint a favorite. In Order To Survive though, is perhaps my favorite group of his. It’s a quartet that features some of the most innovative/genius free musicians out there.
In Order To Survive is the name of the ensemble. It draws its name from the words, “In order to survive we must sometimes die many, many times in one lifetime.” Those in the music business say this music can only be so successful. I say there is no limit to what we can do for each other as human beings.
The music uses an invocation system as a base. Melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic phrases are used to create [the] compositions….The musicians on this CD - Rob Brown, Cooper Moore, Susie Ibarra - are spontanteous composers in the true spirit of creative music.
(from the liner notes)
To many people, free jazz is not a pleasurable thing to listen to. Most of the people I’ve talked to about it say that they just don’t really understand the music and that it sounds like a bunch of noise. Honestly though, this music is so hard to describe/explain that there’s pretty much no point in attempting to do such a thing. My best advice is to just listen with an open mind and be ready to receive some of the most exciting sounds out there.
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Apparently, this album is out of print, but The Peach Orchard on Aum Fidelity (which is a great label to get all your free jazz goodies), is a readily available document of this incredible group.
ESG said,
May 1, 2005 @ 1:04 pm
William Parker is incredible. My only lament about him is that, as far as I know, he hasn’t played in Chicago in the last couple of years. Come back, William, play at the Velvet, please, before it shuts down and moves elsewhere.
cb said,
May 2, 2005 @ 10:56 am
Yeah, I think the last time I saw him was a couple of years ago at the empty bottle at their jazz fest. he was playing with Brotzmann and Hamid Drake in the “Die Like a Dog” incarnation, with special guest Fred Anderson. Wow! what an incredible performance.
But most definitely I would love to see him at the Velvet Lounge. Have you heard anything specific about it shutting down? Or just more of a general feeling that it will.
-cb
the of mirror eye » Healing Music said,
August 4, 2006 @ 1:43 pm
[...] Well, we’ve got a short post for today. I’ve had a spate of kind of not so good news recently and my mind’s not exactly in the right state for this. But, whenever things are going bad and I’m starting to feel unhinged, I usually reach for the music of this fine fellow, William Parker (look here). A free music player of the highest order, Mr. Parker has an amazing sound and and an undeniable spirit. His music is healing music of the highest order to me and had the amazing ability to make me feel grounded again, no matter what else is going on. The main force in playing this music is having the ability to feel the pain of all who suffer. To feel it as if it were happening to us, not resting until it ceases to be. Feeling for others and believing that the only way to survive is through love of God (Self) . Making sure that each sound that comes from your instrument is directed and filled with the strongest truth that exists. (from the liner notes) [...]