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BOOK - 6 x 9", 416 pg, 47 illustrations, Duke University Press paperback
Note SPECIAL BOOK +CDs Gift Bundle Option/s in drop-down menu above:
#1 with 2022 2CD release of the epic 2002 concert happening, Universal Tonality - the first time that Parker presented this deep concept live on stage by name, and whose title the author wisely gripped for this biography.
#2 with the exemplary William Parker albums: O'Neal's Porch -&- Corn Meal Dance. Both certified eternal jewels in his body of recorded work, and at very special Bundle Price. A perfect way to introduce a friend/loved one to William Parker.
This is the first book-length biography of William Parker, written by Cisco Bradley. Many years in the making. And it is a great read. Although AUM Fidelity has worked closely with William Parker for close to 30 years now, there was much new detail and insight to savor, based on both extensive interviews with William and associates & the author's research into Parker's ancestral and familial roots. Recommended? Oh, absolutely.
Back cover of book text:
Since ascending onto the world stage in the 1990s as one of the premier bassists and composers of his generation, William Parker has perpetually toured around the world and released over forty albums as a leader. He is one of the most influential jazz artists alive today. In Universal Tonality historian and critic Cisco Bradley tells the story of Parker’s life and music. Drawing on interviews with Parker and his collaborators, Bradley traces Parker’s ancestral roots in West Africa via the Carolinas to his childhood in the South Bronx, and illustrates his rise from the 1970s jazz lofts and extended work with pianist Cecil Taylor to the present day. He outlines how Parker’s early influences—Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and writers of the Black Arts Movement—grounded Parker’s aesthetic and musical practice in a commitment to community and the struggle for justice and freedom. Throughout, Bradley foregrounds Parker’s understanding of music, the role of the artist, and the relationship between art, politics, and social transformation. Intimate and capacious, Universal Tonality is the definitive work on Parker’s life and music.
Author Cisco Bradley is Associate Professor of History at the Pratt Institute, and editor of the Jazz Right Now blog.