The Evan Parker

Evan Parker Trio & Peter Brotzmann Trio - The Bishop's Move (2004) {VICTO} (ft. Alexander von Schlippenbach)
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© 2004 VICTO / SRC | CD 093
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Saxophone

A happening. Not that these two heavyweight reedsmen had never shared a stage, but this was going to be a face-off, a clash between two of the hardest-working free improv trios on the circuit. On the left side of the stage: Evan Parker, with drummer Paul Lytton and pianist Alex von Schlippenbach, the latter filling in for bassist Barry Guy. On the right side: Peter Brötzmann and his trusty rhythm section, bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. These are two highly experienced and gifted trios, with different approaches (complementary ones, some will say).

To my knowledge this is the first time Evan Parker has recorded with a vocalist (both musicians appeared on a 1993 Leo double-CD, Synergetics / Phonomanie III, but performed together only briefly, and not in a duet setting)...

The Evan Parker Trio, as always, play with the intuition and improvisatory grace that comes when skilled musicians are in tune with each other's idiosyncracies, giving Natives and Aliens a light -- almost swinging, in the old-school sense -- touch that's often missing in this brand of modern jazz

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble - Memory/Vision (2003) {ECM}
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© 2003 ECM Records | ECM 1852 / 038 1172
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Experimental / Saxophone

The Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble has been an ever-changing entity in both personnel and musical direction. Originally structured as a free jazz unit whose players were given "electronic shadows," this model has given way to something entirely other in composition and execution. The ensemble now numbers nine members. Only five of these players – Parker (saxophones, tapes, samples), Philipp Wachsmann (violin, electronics), Augusti Fernandez (piano, prepared piano), Barry Guy (double bass), and Paul Lytton (percussion, electronics) – are considered "free jazz" players in anything resembling proper usage. Six members of the ensemble play electronics (the others are Joel Ryan, Walter Prati, Marco Vecchio, and Lawrence Casserley).

Jah Wobble & Evan Parker - Passage To Hades (2001) {30 Hertz Records 30HZCD14}
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© 2001 30 Hertz Records | 30HZCD14
Experimental / Dub / Avant-Garde / Saxophone

Taking as their inspiration the Greek myth of Orpheus, European improv king Evan Parker (tenor and soprano saxophone) and Invaders of the Heart alumni Clive Bell and Jean-Pierre Rasle invest in a series of stark, repetitive bass and drum structures on Passage to Hades. At the music's core is the rhythm axis of Jah Wobble and Mark Sanders. The duo maps out the territory, delivering all that's required and more through minimal means. It's a refreshing change of scenery for Parker, who's normally heard in avant-garde ensembles or blazing solo performances. Here, he's confined to a stark, muscular groove and he responds beautifully. Like the later recordings by John Coltrane (an early influence), the saxophonist unleashes an abundance of dialog on his instruments, though he never quite reaches the torrents of sound one might expect.

For many years Evan Parker, one of the greatest post-Coltrane saxophonists, has played a monthly gig at the London club The Vortex. These gigs in part illustrate Evan’s close ties with the fragile ecosystem of clubs that support the jazz world; the small venues that allow an intimate and powerful connection between the artist and audience that is at the heart of jazz creativity. Evan called these events his ‘jazz’ gigs, the knowing hyphenation an indication of the problematic use of the J word, an acceptance of the Vortex as a ‘jazz’ club, and a nod to his origins in jazz history. I took a friend there one time and it seemed to me that the trio’s performance (Evan, John Edwards and the great and sadly departed Tony Marsh) came close to seeing Coltrane or Ayler playing at the 5 Spot or one of the other legendary New York venues.