Evan Blaker

The pairing of legendary soprano saxophonist Evan Parker with Spanish pianist Augusti Fernandez on record is one of those magical dates where everything that happens does so for a reason, and the result clarifies the process without much effort.

François Houle/Evan Parker/Benoit Delbecq - La Lumiere de Pierres (2007)
Avante-garde jazz | 1CD | MP3 256 Kbps | 81814 kB
Label: Psi

“Recorded at the Innovations concert series in Montreal in 2005, this trio teams Evan Parker with the established duo of Benoit Delbecq and François Houle, who have been together for a decade. The pair is known to play a wide variety of music—from classical to world to jazz and improvisation—all of it extremely well. Both technically and temperamentally, they are suited to Parker; the threesome sound well-adjusted to each others' instincts, and should as this was not just a one-off meeting; there are plans for the threesome to tour in 2008. ” – album review on AllAboutJazz.com

Two great saxophonists unite forces not to blow each other away, but to create something new original, and unexpected. A studio live recording, with Evan Parker playing soprano and tenor saxophones, and Ned Rothenberg playing bass clarinet and alto saxophone.

Evan Parker - Time Lapse (2006) {Tzadik}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 315 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 127 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb
© 2006 Tzadik | TZ 8026
Jazz / Free Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

The music of avant garde saxophonist Evan Parker is not generally known as easy listening, and though his recordings for ECM may have tended toward the atmospheric, 2006's TIME LAPSE, released on Tzadik, finds Parker returning to challenging form. There are 11 original compositions here, and Parker's sax is the only instrument on most (though he makes ample use of multi-tracking ). Parker can be ruminative at times, and at others full of gutsy, exploratory fire, giving fans familiar with this contemporary avant icon's wild, mercurial sound much to appreciate.

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble - The Eleventh Hour (2005) {ECM 1924}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 337 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 175 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 26 Mb
© 2005 ECM Records | ECM 1924
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Electro-Acoustic / Conceptual Art

Eleventh Hour is the fourth offering by Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble on ECM. The ensemble here numbers 11 members, six of whom are electronic sound sculptors and sound processors, with the remainder – including Philipp Wachsmann and Paul Lytton – are free jazz and new music improvisers. The title piece, in five parts, was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Center in Glasgow, where the album was recorded.

Evan Parker - Whitstable Solo (2010) {psi records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 349 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 19 Mb
© 2010 psi records | psi 10.01
Jazz / Free Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Eight soprano saxophone solos. The 2008 solo concert in Whitstable began as an invitation from artist Polly Read and film-maker Neil Henderson to collaborate on a joint work that included a concert in St.Peter's. These recordings are taken mostly from the concert but, as with LINES BURNT IN LIGHT, one piece was recorded before the audience arrived. These are the first recordings in what has become a series of visits to the church, which has perfect acoustics and is just around the corner from where recording wizard Adam Skeaping now lives. Watch this space.

Despite the offhand title, his composition [Walk the Dog] amounts to a substantial 25-minute concerto for bass clarinet. ... it juxtaposes live solo playing against a pre-recorded backing—in this case an offbeat world-music electronic mélange, including Gambian harps, Balinese frogs, and what sounds like thundering elephants at one point. Yet Walk the Dog is not a gimmicky piece, and the ever-churning electronic backdrop is a worthy canvas for Ziporyn’s (b. 1959) high-stepping jazz solos and an array of agile multiple voicings and highly contrasted colors. If the concerto is closer to jazz than the Western classical tradition, it suits Ziporyn’s populist style, and Walk the Dog is an original, well crafted and enjoyable work that need make no apologies for its far-flung influences.