Evan Parker - Biography
Evan Parker is a bottomless well of musicality. Since the mid-60s, he has been a significant voice on the soprano and tenor saxophones and a major contributor to the cutting edge of free improvisation and spontaneous or “instant” composition forms in Great Britain and Europe. Parker’s method and creative drive are fueled by a fully developed understanding of advanced jazz methodology, providing the framework to participate in developing a line of musical inquiry that has led to some of the most interesting and varied music being created. The inspiration that Parker derived from the jazz tradition was the determination to dig deep into the creative force, form a voice of one’s own and seek out those who shared that common vision. This is what shaped his entire life as a musician; a life filled with interesting relationships that led to opportunities that opened up further opportunities for collaboration.
Parker was born in Bristol, England in April 1944. He came of age musically in the early 1960s during the time of John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler and the exploratory small groupings of Cecil Taylor. He is close in age to many who would become leading voices and collaborators in the new music, such as Roscoe Mitchell, Peter Brötzmann, Anthony Braxton, and Han Bennink, among others. He heard Coltrane during his European tour of 1961 with the same quintet as the Village Vanguard Sessions (Impulse) that included Eric Dolphy along with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. This was deeply influential. He had the opportunity to travel to New York in 1962 where he heard the famed Cecil Taylor Unit with members Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone and Sunny Murray on drums, in addition to Mr. Taylor on piano. Parker met Taylor during that visit and credits their conversation with providing needed impetus to pursue his life’s work. He would later collaborate with Taylor in 1988 and 1990 to great result. (See “The Hearth” in trio with Tristan Honsinger, cello; and “Nailed” with Barry Guy, bass and Tony Oxley, drums. Both recordings are on FMP.)
His musical interests developed during one of the most expansive times in world culture. This most inventive new music was exploding in the United States, while in Great Britain and throughout Europe, ears were hungrily seeking out and absorbing the new sound. Simultaneously, music of many varieties was becoming available to western ears such as the melodic improvisations of India, polyrhythmic and harmonic music from the African continent and other new sounds from around the planet.
Looking back over 50 years of music making, one sees the synchronicity of these overlapping and interconnected opportunities. At 14, a friend a year ahead of him in school encouraged him to listen to jazz and suggested he take up the saxophone (the alto) because the friend was playing, it was a simple process to get started, and they could share the same teacher. Parker recalls his teacher, Jimmy Knott, being very open minded and this deeply influenced Parker. Knott had qualities unknown to Parker in his upbringing, an interest in politics, pacifism, being a vegetarian. There was much more to these lessons besides the saxophone. Parker was learning how to question. This initial guidance molded him and provided a direction that he continues to travel today.
Two years later, at 16, Parker began his lifelong relationship with the soprano saxophone. At this time, coming under the influence of John Coltrane he decided to play only that instrument. This was 1961 when Trane had just released “My Favorite Things” (My Favorite Things, 1961 Atlantic) played on the soprano.
After completing his undergraduate studies at Birmingham University at beginning of 1967, Parker moved to London where he came into contact with John Stevens, the drummer and mastermind behind the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME), a laboratory for players who became leading voices in European improvised music including Kenny Wheeler, Derek Bailey, Trevor Watts, Paul Rutherford, and Kent Carter. Parker joined the group and remained a regular member for just over a year, leaving in early 1968. It was around this time that he began his very long and concentrated working relationship with guitarist Derek Bailey. They started the Music Improvisation Company in 1968 and, along with drummer Tony Oxley, they started the influential Incus Records in 1970 to have a means to document their work. This relationship continued until 1985 when he and Bailey stopped working together. Parker also left Incus at that time.
The direction he helped establish in SME and that continued with the MIC and Bailey was an effort to achieve a means of free musical expression in a multitude of contexts from solo to large group. This work and these collaborations have produced hundreds of recordings under Parker’s name or as a member of an ensemble, often with the Dutch improvisers Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink and their Instant Composer’s Pool; Barry Guy’s London Jazz Composer’s Orchestra—Guy is also the bassist in Parker’s regular trio along with Paul Lytton on drums. There is continued work with German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, particularly in the trio setting, often with percussionist Paul Lovens, work with the Globe Unity Orchestra and the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. These large groups are known for their mix of improvisation with composed and arranged sections and free sections. Parker’s collaboration with the leading musicians of the United States and Europe form a list that is much longer than space available here and that represents fellow leaders in this common creative endeavor.
This methodology of free musical expression was built on the concept of developing and utilizing advanced musical technique and applying well-honed skills at listening to shape improvisations and create instant compositions that had value both artistically and for listeners. Sometimes the music was akin to free jazz of the time, but increasingly the music took a more personal, introspective direction. In an essay that supported a commission, “De Dotu for Buschi Niebergall,” Parker describes the internal experience as a direct accessing of memories of all past work and how those memories are informed by or imagined as material learned through study and development of technique; moving in an area of mystery—perhaps a direct connection to a creative force that is indescribable. In this same vein, trying to unearth the mystery of free, spontaneous improvisation/composition, he made inquiries into the realm of neurobiology, applying the study of left and right brain hemispheres as a means of understanding the principles at work. He found that when the music was working, the organic activity begun in the left hemisphere moved to the right hemisphere, thereby obtaining an order to that which had begun freely.
In 1975, Parker recorded his first solo record entitled Saxophone Solos (Chronoscope). He explored the challenges of solo improvising in relation to the acoustic space. The aim was to discover how to fill the space and exploit the natural resonances, exploring the illusion of polyphony when layering sound. Parker also added circular breathing to his playing as well as developing non-standard tonguing techniques, which contributed greatly to the layering and polyphonic effects.
Parker continues his work playing with his regular trio of Barry Guy and Paul Lytton, while recording in innumerable contexts from solo to larger group. He also has been exploring the use of electronics with his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, a group that has two recordings on ECM Records. This group is built around his trio and adds Philipp Wachsmann on violin, viola, live electronics and sound processing and Walter Prati and Marco Vecchi, also on live electronics and sound processing.
Other recent projects include a very interesting collaboration with Roscoe Mitchell, called the Transatlantic Art Ensemble. This group combines the players of each leader’s (Mitchell, Parker) working group, with the addition of some of the players from the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and other players who have worked with Mitchell or Parker to fill out the group. This 14-piece group was recorded live over two nights in Munich, September 2004 during the “UNFORESEEN: Symposium on Improvised Music 2004.” Parker’s piece “Boustrophedon (in Six Furrows)” operates as improvisation within a written scheme encouraging spontaneous composition among the players as the piece evolves. This recording is available from ECM Records along with its companion recording, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 led by Roscoe Mitchell. His relationships expand, his creative process builds and what is most important, something new always arrives.