Screaming bloody avant-garde, the opening “Bells” kicks out with death howling and bumbling saxophone licks, mysterious cymbals, bells and other unidentified noises, surprising and emotionally fulfilled, breathing alive, but masterly outlined and powerfully shaped, this is jazz in its most pure, uncompromised and most creative form. Free jazz. Anyway, jazz without freedom, without liberty, it might be some kind of music, but definitively not jazz.
Composer and bassist William Parker joins forces with the Munich based ICI (International Composers & Improvisers) Ensemble to create this work build upon the elements of improvisation.
Parker was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1952. For more than thirty years he has cultivated projects of various sizes and composed for these ensembles, as can be seen in the more than twenty albums released under his name. Parker first came to international attention with the Cecil Taylor Trio, with whom he collaborated from 1980 to 1991 and he has long been a member of saxophonist David S. Ware’s quartet. He has also played in groups led by Peter Brötzmann and Charles Gayle, performed with Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Sunny Murray, Louis Sclavis, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, Rashied Ali, Perry Robinson, Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Grimes, Mat Maneri, Jeanne Lee, John Zorn, and DJ Spooky, and many others.
The ICI Ensemble is a loose group of German musicians, with varying line-ups. They have developed their “Composer in Dialogue” concept to which they invite modern composers, with so far Olga Neuwirth, Barry Guy, Pierre Favre, George Lewis, Giancarlo Schiaffini and Vinko Globokar as invitees. In 2009, the band invited William Parker to compose for them, and the result is this quite dense and absolutely free – and live – recording entitled “Winter Sun Crying”.
Tracklist:
01. Bells 8:10
02. Train 2:59
03. Winter Sun Crying 4:25
04. Earth 3:12
05. Moon 5:04
06. Orphans 4:37
07. Explosion 2:48
08. Tears 3:03
09. Hope 2:36
10. Sky 3:14
11. Grandmother 2:12
12. Circle 4:00
13. Hello 3:02
14. Revolution 6:56
15. Let’s Change the World 6:39
Personnel:
William Parker, double-bass, piccolo, trumpet, shakuhachi, double reeds
David Jager, soprano & tenor saxophones
Roger Jannotta, alto saxophone, piccolo, flute, clarinet
Markus Heinze, baritone & tenor saxophones
Christofer Varner, trombone, sampler
Martin Wolfrum, piano,
Johanna Varner, cello,
Gunnar Geisse, laptop & laptop guitar
Georg Janker, double-bass,
Sunk Poschi, drums
William Parker – Official Site
William Parker @ Aumfidelity.com
