William Parker has long taken an active role in the presentation of his own art (self-produced records/CDs, concerts, festivals, publications) and that of others.  That initiative continues with this major work, an anthology of musician-to-musician interviews in the lineage of Arthur Taylor’s seminal “Notes and Tones”.  Approximately 12 years in the making, “Conversations” has hallmarks of being a very personal project, spotlighting many musicians who are largely unknown to even avid fans of the music but very much a part of its secret history. 

On a personal note, it was an honor to first publish a version of the Louis Moholo interview found in “Conversations” in 50 Miles of Elbow Room issue #2 and to do the initial transcriptions for the majority of these interviews.

“During the last 10 years, William Parker interviewed 32 of his friends and colleagues, musicians and artists. In addition to the 32 interviews, edited by Ed Hazell, the book contains photographs by Jacques Bisceglia and a CD with excerpts of the interviews and great William Parker bass solos.” – RogueArt

Interviewees: Fred Anderson, Billy Bang, Han Bennink, Jacques Bisceglia, Dave Burrell, Roy Campbell, Cooper-Moore, Wilbert de Joode, John Edwards, Ge Gan-Ru, Charles Gayle, Alan Glover a.k.a. Juice, Milford Graves, Clyde Kerr, Joelle Leandre, Frank Lowe, Nicole Mitchell, Louis Moholo, Joe Morris, Sunny Murray, Sainkho Namtchylak, Jalalu Kalvert Nelson, Patricia Nicholson, Carl Lombard a.k.a. Pelikan, Walter Perkins, Richard Rodriguez, Paul Rogers, Alan Silva, Warren Smith, Oluyemi Thomas, Henry P. Warner, and Mark Whitecage

"Crumbling In the Shadows Is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake is a limited edition box set comprising 3 albums of William Parker solo bass performances/compositions in full tandem with a 48-page booklet of all-new William Parker writings (poems, dreams, meditations and more).  Very powerful and profound music and words, through and through.  Cinematic excursions on solo bass accompanied with words that present a fully seasoned new recipe for life. The first two CDs are new works recorded in August 2010; the third CD in the set reissues Parker's first solo bass album, Testimony, originally released in 1995 and long since out of print." - AUM Fidelity.  Limited edition of 1000, private pressing on Parker's own Centering label.

“I Plan To Stay A Believer is the definitive document of William Parker's The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield project, comprised of exuberant concert recordings spanning the past decade (2001-2008). The project features interpolations of the mighty songbook of soul music legend Curtis Mayfield by an equally mighty 8-piece band, occasionally accompanied by highly inspired choirs.

“Bassist/composer William Parker is among the most active and highly regarded musicians performing today. This is the first project in his 35-year career devoted to the music of another composer. Curtis Mayfield was a prophet, a preacher, a revolutionary, a humanist, and a griot. Words that all apply to William Parker himself. Included here are two pieces from the group's very first 2001 performance in Paris with a chorus of 90 children, and another pair from New York in 2008 which feature a full gospel choir.

“As Parker writes in the liner notes, ‘Every song written or improvised has an inside song which lives in the shadows, in-between the sounds and silences and behind the words, pulsating, waiting to be reborn as a new song.’ I Plan To Stay A Believer brings Curtis Mayfield’s positive messages of hope and fortitude in the face of potentially overwhelming odds back into the present moment where these energies remain in great need.

“The group features all long-standing compatriots of Parker’s:  the peerless rhythm section of Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, along with elder masters Dave Burrell on piano and poet/activist Amiri Baraka.  The horn section features saxophonists Sabir Mateen & Darryl Foster and trumpeter Lewis Barnes. Deeply soulful singer Leena Conquest is also featured in Parker's Raining on the Moon group / Corn Meal Dance album.” - AUM Fidelity

2007 reissue of William Parker and Hamid Drake's classic Piercing the Veil, with a full-length bonus disc of a killer live performance recorded at AUM Fidelity's homebase in April 2000. The music is in the tradition of Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell's classic Mu sessions for BYG/Actuel, with free jazz musicians taking cues from other fire musics from around the world and running with them. (The title "Black Cherry" from Piercing would seem to acknowledge these roots.) Joyous and powerful music.

Credits:
William Parker: bass, balafon, shakuhachi, bombard, dumbek, slit drum
Hamid Drake: drums, tabla, frame drum, bells

William Parker and Hamid Drake have been one of the most celebrated and prolific rhythm sections in modern jazz for over a decade, and they clearly love to create music together. They are especially adept at incorporating a broad range of musical traditions into their sound and they tend to give this approach a greater focus when working as a duo. Summer Snow covers a lot of territory, from meditative pieces for shakuhachi, to loose, swinging, and funky bass/drums tracks. "Faces" is a personal favorite, a lovely dance for doson'ngoni + frame drum.

William Parker: doson'ngoni, shakuhachi, dumbek, talking drum, water bowls, bass
Hamid Drake: tabla, frame drum, gongs, drums

Dating as far back as his debut LP Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace, William Parker has shown an interest in and an affinity for writing for strings, but it has never been given as much prominence on a recording as it is on this lovely disc where Parker’s working quartet collaborates with four younger string players to create music inspired by Jean Luc Godard’s “Alphaville”.  A refreshing and varied set that takes them to some new and often beautiful places. Leena Conquest also guests on two short tracks. Hear "Civilization of Light": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2nQOijHkoY

William Parker: bass
Rob Brown: alto saxophone
Lewis “Flip” Barnes: trumpet
Hamid Drake: drums
Mazz Swift: violin
Jessica Pavone: viola
Julia Kent: cello
Shiau-Shu Yu: cello

Leena Conquest: vocals

“An orchestral work featuring immensely gifted individual and collective voices from around the world, meshing as one to manifest a pair of deep double-drummer-and-bass driven mantras; this is serious (other) World teleportation music that achieves psychedelic proportions of sonic interplay.

“Corn Meal Dance again makes abundantly clear William Parker's multi-faceted talents as bassist, composer, poet, bandleader and songwriter. Raining On The Moon is the extraordinary group which seamlessly fuses all of these prodigious gifts: his long-standing Quartet with Hamid Drake, Rob Brown, Lewis Barnes is here exquisitely augmented by singer Leena Conquest breathing further passion into William's lyrics once again, and pianist Eri Yamamoto for the first wonderful time. William Parker’s soul-nourishing poetry and supremely catchy melodies and grooves are brought to scintillating life by a group featuring some of the finest improvisers in the world. Further to the full-group work here are a pair of supremely tender Leena and Eri duets on 'Prayer' and 'Poem For June Jordan'.” – AUM Fidelity

William Parker: bass
Lewis “Flip” Barnes: trumpet
Rob Brown: alto saxophone
Leena Conquest: vocals
Hamid Drake: drums
Eri Yamamoto: piano