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Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker
- Author: Bradley, Cisco
Cisco Bradley endeavors to pull the diverse parts of the artist's life together in this first ever biography of Parker. It is a monumental task, and like the dozens of biographies of Louis Armstrong...
Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker
- Author: Bradley, Cisco
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Cisco Bradley endeavors to pull the diverse parts of the artist's life together in this first ever biography of Parker. It is a monumental task, and like the dozens of biographies of Louis Armstrong...
About
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.
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
Awards and reviews
Cisco Bradley endeavors to pull the diverse parts of the artist's life together in this first ever biography of Parker. It is a monumental task, and like the dozens of biographies of Louis Armstrong that have been published, it is a good start." -- Mark Corroto
Bradley's work, currently only in English, really deserves to be translated into multiple languages." (translated from Italian) -- Giuseppe Segala
Excellent and overdue. . . ." -- Angus Batey
Cisco Bradley's insightful, detailed and beautifully illustrated biography is a labour of love. . . . Universal Tonality made me realise that, much as I've always loved his music, I hadn't begun to appreciate William Parker's achievement." -- Andy Hamilton
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