The Evan Parker

Evan Parker - Time Lapse (2006) {Tzadik}
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© 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, Barry Guy, Paul Lytton - Live At Maya Recordings Festival (2013) {NoBusiness Records}
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© 2013 NoBusiness Records | NBCD 55
Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

After twenty one recordings there may not be too much more to say about the superlative English threesome of saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton. Some 30 years on since their debut Tracks (Incus, 1983), they converse in a language entirely of their own making, which relies on a staggering density of ideas, chops to burn and a preternatural responsiveness. Live At Maya Recordings Festival, captured at Winterthur, Switzerland in 2011 forms another top notch entry into an already distinguished discography.

Paul Bley, Evan Parker, Barre Phillips - Sankt Gerold Variations (2000) {ECM 1609}
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© 2000 ECM Records | ECM 1609
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Microtonal / Piano

ECM brought this trio of innovative free jazz veterans together for the first time to make the critically-acclaimed "Time Will Tell" album in 1994 - since then, it has become a popular institution on the touring circuit. "Sankt Gerold" is a live album, taped at the Austrian mountain monastery that has been the site of many distinguished ECM recordings, and it roves through many different moods. Parker and Phillips goad Bley toward some of his most abstract and experimental playing, yet they also respond to his more lyrical improvisational impulses. All three musicians are changed by the context. This is free music making at its purest.

Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Paul Lytton + Schlippenbach Trio - 2x3=5 (2001) {Leo Records}
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© 2001 Leo Records | CD LR 305
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz

2x3=5 connotes the merging of two trios: pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, saxophonist Evan Parker, drummer Paul Lovens and Parker's longtime associates, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton. However the thrust behind this fascinating seventy-seven minute presentation, resides within the artists' abilities to regenerate a hodgepodge of sub-themes into a series of propulsive statements marked by their tireless inventions and boundless energy.

Founded in 1992, Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble is a highly sophisticated grouping, which for this recording conceptually pairs three acoustic musicians with electronic tone manipulators. What keeps it so interesting is the different approaches to electronics, with Walter Prati transforming Parker's sounds, Marco Vecchi reformulating Paul Lytton's percussion, and violinist Philipp Wachsmann processing his own acoustic sounds and those of bassist Barry Guy. It is all fascinating stuff, and if it does not swing or fit into any easy definitions of "jazz," it takes the concept of improvisation to a new level. There is sometimes an aimlessness to it all that can be off-putting, but concentrated listening can produce wonderful rewards for the patient consumer. Parker's role seems less that of a leader than an instigator. He does, nonetheless, afford himself the opportunity to press his revolutionary technique to action.

A live duo performance by musicians of this extraordinarily high caliber occasionally results in something incredible but perhaps more often describes a battle of egos with neither side giving in. In this case, the participants appeared willing to compromise and to some extent lay aside their commitment to the vast and idiosyncratic musical structures that they had developed over the year. If the recording still fails to live up to impossibly high expectations, it is nonetheless a fine album on its own merits. The session consists of five improvisations of varying moods, textures, and intensities. Much of the time is spent in areas of surprising lyricism and restraint, as on "ParkBrax #3," a lush, contemplative piece. But even when things become somewhat frenetic, as on the second and fourth tracks, the absolute control of these masters over their instruments is clear…

Evan Parker - Chicago Solo (1997) {Okkadisk OD12017 rec 1995}
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© 1997 Okkadisk | OD12017
Jazz / Free Jazz / Free Improvisation / Saxophone

Recorded in a Chicago studio and feeling as if it were a live concert, despite his many solo saxophone recordings, the Chicago Solo by Evan Parker is very special. For one thing, this is a completely tenor saxophone set; the trademark soprano is nowhere in evidence. For another, Parker seems very interested in the extended tones of the horn rather than in the fiery creation of microtonal knots of sound. On "Chicago Solo 3," he pulls his tone right from the bell, rolling out notes along the physical properties of the horn itself, exploring each vibration and sub-tone as a color and of its own territory, worthy of exploration and he follows them into the bell and back.

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

Evan Parker - Whitstable Solo (2010) {psi records}
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© 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.