Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker

Contents

• Acknowledgments ix
• Introduction. "Flowers Grow in My Room": Realizing a Vision 1
• I. Origins
• 1. Enslavement and Resistance: From West Africa to the Carolinas to Harlem 15
• 2. Struggle, Beauty, and Survival: Childhood in the South Bronx 41
• 3. Consciousness: Art, Politics, and Self in the Mind of a Young Man 61
• II. Early Work
• 4. The Loft Scene: Art, Community, and Self-Determination 93
• 5. "Music That Will Give People Hope": Centering Dance Music with Patricia Nicholson 124
• 6. "Music Is Supposed to Change People": Working with Cecil Taylor 148
• III. Toward the Universal
• 7. "It Is the Job of the Artist to Incite Political Revolution": In Order to Survive 173
• 8. Into the Tone World: Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra 194
• 9. Toward a Universal Sound: William Parker Quartet and Raining on the Moon 216
• 10. Honoring the Elders: Tribute Projects and Other Bands 239
• 11. All People Need Truth to Survive: Recent Work and Legacy 261
• Appendix: William Parker Discography 279
• Notes 291
• Bibliography 359
• Index 385