SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ENSEMBLE — Withdrawal 1966-7 (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Sometimes, unearthed documents can leave you cold, even though the intellect appreciates the historical gap being filled. With Withdrawal, history doesn't matter and the "archival document" ends up superseding the legit material by the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. This is gold -- pure artistic beauty. The year is 1966. John Stevens' group records the soundtrack for a movie (now lost) by George Paul Solomos. The continuous performance is edited into two parts for a total of 30 minutes of music. A slow piece dominated by a glockenspiel leitmotif, "Withdrawal Soundtrack" features beautiful trumpet work by a Kenny Wheeler who was just beginning to play free music. Other players are Stevens (drums), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Trevor Watts (saxophone, oboe), Barry Guy (bass, limited to sustained drones), and a very young and discreet Evan Parker (saxophone). A few months later, in early 1967, the same lineup, plus Derek Bailey on amplified guitar, recorded a reworked version of the soundtrack in three sequences, plus a suite called "Seeing Sounds & Hearing Colours," both intended for an LP release that never materialized. Watts plays some beautiful flute on "Withdrawal Sequence 2." Actually, the whole CD contains fantastic free music, almost completely detached from jazz -- very atmospheric, delicate, and highly organic with a strong sense of discovery. These are the earliest available recordings by Barry Guy and Evan Parker (even though the latter doesn't play much), and one of Bailey's earliest sessions playing free music (even though he is buried in the mix). Historical significance notwithstanding, Withdrawal is simply a great album, still very relevant and "new" today. François Couture    Tracklist :
Credits :
Double Bass, Piano – Barry Guy
Drums, Cymbal [Cymbals], Percussion, Composed By – John Stevens
Guitar [Amplified] – Derek Bailey (tracks: 5 to 11)
Oboe, Alto Saxophone, Flute, Voice, Percussion – Trevor Watts
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – Evan Parker
Trombone, Percussion – Paul Rutherford
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Percussion – Kenny Wheeler

EVAN PARKER | DEREK BAILEY | HAN BENNINK - The Topography Of The Lungs (1970-2006) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Along with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble's Karyobin and Tony Oxley's 4 Compositions for Sextet, The Topography of the Lungs is one of the landmark early albums of English free improvisation (despite the presence of Dutch percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink), featuring guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Evan Parker in positively coruscating form. This album launched the legendary Incus label in style, and original copies still contain the photocopied typewritten letter announcing the label's manifesto: "The bulk of the revenue from any Incus recording will go directly to the musicians....Once the basic cost of each record is recovered, thus providing the finance for the next, the vast bulk of all income will be paid in royalties to the artists. Incus has no intention of making profits in the conventional sense." (Back in Holland, Bennink had adopted a similar strategy for the ICP label he co-founded with saxophonist Willem Breuker and pianist Misha Mengelberg.) The same sense of commitment is to be found throughout the album, whose ultra-concentrated force marked a clear boundary line between the emerging European free music and its immediate precursor, American free jazz. Despite the music's furious energy -- verging at times on the downright violent, thanks in no small part to the irrepressible Bennink -- proceedings do not lack a sense of humor. Nor does the record's back cover, an almost Monty Pythonesque collage of pages from an old encyclopedia interspersed with brief, enigmatic phrases like "Frederick Rzewski writes about free improvisation and makes sense" and "If you like to draw or paint, this booklet could help change your life." If the booklet doesn't manage it, the music on the album certainly will. Dan Warburton  
Tracklist :
1    Titan Moon    20:45
2    For Peter B & Peter K    4:35
3    Fixed Elsewhere    5:05
4    Dogmeat    12:17
5    Found Elsewhere 1    4:40
6    Found Elsewhere 2    4:52
Guitar – Derek Bailey
Percussion – Han Bennink
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Producer, Liner Notes – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER - Saxophone Solos + Monoceros (1975-1978) 2 Albums | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 Evan Parker- Saxophone Solos 

(1975-1994, Chronoscope Records – CPE2002-2)

What can be said about these historic recordings is limited, but that's because, while it's true that music can be and most often is beyond language (at least the English language) to describe, these solos are for the most part beyond the reach of even music to describe. Evan Parker has proven time and again his unwillingness to tread any path traveled before him (notice his typically European comments about American Eric Dolphy in the liner notes, where he concedes a point to an interviewer and then has to better it by claiming his own attempt at superiority -- yeah, it's whiny and one hopes he's matured in this way), and these solos from 1975 should prove that he has cut down the entire forest of trees that the instruction manuals for soprano saxophone were made from. These pieces are about sonic texture, tonality and atonality, and why they're both the same thing, and they reveal also the mechanical possibilities for the instrument that weren't even considered before he came along -- things like playing in all three registers of the instrument at the same time. There are two sets of pieces here, all of them called "Aerobatics" and then numbered one through 14. The first four were recorded during a live concert earlier in the year and the last ten at a studio in Berlin. Given what's on the studio set, it would appear as if the live gig inspired further exploration and new ideas as a result, because there is a marked difference in just a few months in the depth and breadth of Parker's ability to voice his ideas. The latter pieces all have quotes from Krapp's Last Tape, a play by Samuel Beckett, one of Parker's favorite writers. And that should come as no surprise; the sense of humor and irony in Parker's music is inseparable from his techniques. These early recordings of Parker's solo performances pointed the way for a body of music that is singular in its achievement, and stand the test of time on their own as brilliant, investigative, and provocative works of a musical firebrand.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-

Tracklist:
1    Aerobatics 1 16:28
2    Aerobatics 2 6:35
3    Aerobatics 3 14:31
4    Aerobatics 4 3:48    
5    Aerobatics 5 7:05
6    Aerobatics 6 4:04
7    Aerobatics 7 1:49
8    Aerobatics 8 5:33
9    Aerobatics 9 2:27
10   Aerobatics 11 6:08
11   Aerobatics 12 0:11
12   Aerobatics 13 3:39
13   Aerobatics 14 6:57
Evan Parker - Composer, Producer, Sax (Soprano)  

 Evan Parker - Monoceros
(1978-2015, psi – psi 15.01)

Evan Parker is a virtuosic solo improviser, and these soprano saxophone recordings, made in England in 1978, are perhaps the next best thing to seeing him perform live. Monoceros is divided into four parts, but each is of comparable sonic quality. Parker uses rapid tonguing techniques and circular breathing to create a sound all his own, marked by the simultaneous intonation of multiple notes. When one listens to Evan Parker, one hears a note as well as all the residual tones around it; each breath ends up sounding like a battle between the different registers of the horn. At various times, Parker's saxophone sounds like dolphin speech, electronic tape squeals, or human murmurs; namely, anything but what it actually is. His language on the instrument is essential listening for anyone interested in acoustic experimental music. The Chronoscope CD version of Monoceros distinguishes itself from other Parker solo recitals by its relatively early recording date, excellent sound quality, and probing, anecdotal liner notes courtesy of Steve Lake. Henry M. Shteamer
Tracklist :
1    Monoceros 1    21:36
2    Monoceros 2    5:15
3    Monoceros 3    9:02
4    Monoceros 4    4:09
Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER & PAUL LYTTON - At the Unity Theatre (1975-2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Three years after Evan Parker and Paul Lytton's recording debut as a duo (Collective Calls, originally released by Incus), At the Unity Theatre captures them in a live setting. The studio album saw them foray into microscopic sounds. This time around the music is overall more feverish and loud, but it loses nothing in subtlety and intelligence. "In the Midst of Laughter and Glee," at 18 minutes long, stands as one of their best improvisations from that period. We are greeted by a low growl, like a long string being scratched; it may be the enigmatic lyttonophone but, in any case, it immediately tells you how unconventional this sax/drums duet was. Closer to the end, Parker squeezes out of his soprano sax the whiny sounds of an oboe or shenai, unfolding a sinuous mourning song that is simply stunning. He also plays a raspier tenor and uses a bullroarer and cassettes of prior performances -- but these are discernible only on very close listen. Lytton spends little time playing the drum kit in a conventional way. Instead he focuses on objects and scrap metal, but still makes quite a racket. The CD reissue of this album (on Parker's Psi imprint) adds over 22 minutes of previously unissued material in the form of two extra improvisations from the same concert. At 18 minutes,"Through Consensus" was too long to make it on the original LP without sacrificing "In the Midst of Laughter and Glee," which is simply better. Despite some captivating activity, the two musicians drift apart, Parker trying to force the piece into a more powerful direction while Lytton instead moves deeper within his pile of scrap metal. It makes a nice bonus though. François Couture  
Tracklist :
1    In The Midst Of Laughter And Glee    18:07
2    On Reflection    5:31
3    Mild Steel Rivets For P.H.    14:50
4    The Dirlston Dirler    7:30
5    Through Consensus    18:26
6    To Unity    4:03
7    Bonus Track    0:08
Percussion, Electronics [Live], Voice, Written-By – Paul Lytton
Producer – Derek Bailey
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Reeds [Lyttonophone], Drums [Pole], Performer [Bullroarer, Cassettes], Liner Notes, Written-By – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER | CECIL TAYLOR | BARRY GUY | TONY OXLEY - Nailed (CT: The Quartet) (1990-2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A super-session in theory, this one-off gig was recorded in Berlin in 1990 during another of Cecil Taylor's extended stays. According to the liner notes, this gig was tense from the start because of some ill will between some of the band's members, hence the title of the album. Whatever. The two tracks that comprise this set are full of the explosive, full-bore playing each of this quartet's members is well-known for. It's easy to believe there is tension here, the playing from the outset starts at furious and gets wilder. But what's more interesting is that given Taylor's gigantic stature among musicians, even the three he's playing with, he doesn't dominate the proceedings. This is group improvisation the way it's supposed to be, with ideas being tossed into the fire from every angle. Some are picked up and extrapolated upon; others are left smoldering in the ashes. When it is time for Taylor to solo, none of the others stay out of the mix completely, not even Parker. Guy's bowed bass accompanies Taylor through each theme and phrase, each color and mode change until Taylor cedes the floor. Yes, it is all about muscle: all competition, all struggle, all music. As in the bebop days of old, this is a cutting contest in the purest sense of that word. Everybody bleeds here. At times, the playing is so intense the listener just wants to hate everyone on the bandstand, at others, so forceful (s)he is beaten into submission, and still at others, nothing but a resounding YEAH! Throughout the house or car will do. Sizing up the individual contributions to this mass of aural mayhem is fruitless. This is a group who insists on being individuals in a collective setting and, therefore, the listening level is so high -- so as not to miss any gauntlet laid down -- the attention to execution and imagination can't help but be top-notch. So, in essence, this is a super-session, but not one in the usual sense. It is among the finest of all the recordings released under Taylor's name from either of his Berlin periods, and, for the others, it charts with their best playing anywhere. This is group improvisation at its angriest, freest, and truest.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    First    52:20
2    Last    25:48
Bass – Barry Guy
Drums – Tony Oxley
Piano, Composed By – Cecil Taylor
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER - Process and Reality (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 The first trap is to write that this is another phenomenal Evan Parker recording. It would be accurate because it is, and it would also be accurate to claim that this is a further step not only in Parker's development as an improviser, but in the development of improvised music as well. Another trap. But the entire picture is somewhat murkier while being even more monumental: This is Evan Parker's first album using multi-tracking technology and using the studio itself as a concert platform to capture, in the flux of the moment, the permanent sound, and, as Alfred North Whitehead (whose legendary philosophical tome this album is named for) pointed out, the flux that is always inherent in the permanent. Process and Reality is comprised of short pieces, 16 of them in fact. All but one are improvisations on the notions of the sonic, harmonic, and timbral thematics Parker was exploring at the time of this recording (who knows where he's off to now), and one is an improvisation based on Steve Lacy's "The Cryptosphere." The first half-hour features Parker "warming up," playing straight, live, moving through angular scales and tonal variations on whichever theme he states. From track six, "Amanita," on, the multi-tracking begins and the tonal balances fall off the roof; here, shocking reams of sound run against skittering skeins of atonal noise and shimmering notes, cascading in ribbons through the tape machines and creating a weave of "absolute sound," no more temporal or permanent than a flash of light that touches everything around it. This is a fascinating, and even maddeningly awakening, ride through Parker's tonal and psychological soundscape. It is an essential recording for anyone interested in improvised music.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Process And Reality    
1    Mothon    4:40
2    Borlung    8:30
3    Broken Wing    7:50
4    Fast Falls (For Mongezi Feza)    8:29
5    Paros Gemutato    4:08
6    Amanita    4:47
7    Aka    2:38
8    G.I.K.H    3:10
9    Bubble Chamber (For Conlon Nancarrow)    3:58
10    Muzzle    4:13
11    Diary Of A Mnemonist (For Liz Fritsch)    3:07
12    Banda (O.D.J.B)    2:16
13    Pfingstsonntag    2:18
14    Blindflight    2:21
15    And I Will Sing Of This Second Kingdom    2:54
Lapidary    
16    Improvisation On 'The Cryptosphere' By Steve Lacy    3:26
Soprano Saxophone, Music By – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER - The Snake Decides (1986-2003) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Six years after Six of One, Evan Parker proposed another solo album. The Snake Decides features the man, his soprano saxophone, and a gifted sound engineer in Michael Gerzon, to whom Parker pays tribute in the liner notes to the CD reissue (a reissue that sticks to the original album, no bonus material on this one). Six of One is hard to beat, especially since at the time (1980) it represented a thunderous introduction to Parker's solo playing. But The Snake Decides manages to raise the ante, if only slightly. Parker's circular breathing has grown more flexible and frantic. One pictures a mad snake charmer, playing multiple melodies at once to make the snakes stretch into different directions and move in interlocking patterns. In "Buriden's Ass" and "Haine's Last Tape," the number of notes per minute hits a peak. But Parker's music has never been about keeping score. The flurry is necessary to mesmerize the listener, to hypnotize him, to make everything else within earshot fade away. All that remains is this kaleidoscope of multiphonics. The title track, 20-minutes long, can seem like something of an ordeal, but the absence of a pause or break in the flow of notes obliterates time. But the best, most impressive pieces are the shorter ones; they are brighter, friskier. Recommended. François Couture  
Tracklist :
1    The Snake Decides    19:56
2    Leipzig Folly    11:42
3    Buriden's Ass    6:29
4    Haine's Last Tape    6:01
Credits :
Soprano Saxophone, Composed By – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER | KEITH ROWE | BARRY GUY | EDDIE PRÉVOST - Supersession (New Edition) (1984-2015) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded in 1984, a full 16 years after this quartet as individuals began their investigation into free improvisation, the results are in. Here are a group of four nearly peerless musicians who are standalone comfortable in this medium, the one that creates something out of nothing. Using the whatever elements are at their disposal, this group of mates take the silence and fill it with noises, beautiful notes, conical, breathless saxophone solos, electronic chaos, and thunderous, rhythmic densities it would take God to undo. That this music, such as it is as an unfolding process can happen in front of a live audience, as it is with no agenda, is of particular credit to the British musicians who flew in the face of the American free jazz of the late '60s. For one thing, all of these cats can play their instruments well enough to deconstruct them, and to discover new sounds in them -- check Evan Parker's soprano about ten or 11 minutes into this, or Barry Guy's bassing which brings in high-pitched electronic sounds to counter his own pizzicato in key. This is music that doesn't mess around, but goes straight for the heart of the beast: unquestioning conformity, academic avant-gardism, and soulless tunes called art. Now, in the 21st century, this music sounds as fresh as it did the day it was made. That is art. This is the way, so step inside.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1     Supersession 36:55
Barry Guy / Evan Parker / Eddie Prévost / Keith Rowe
Double Bass, Electronics – Barry Guy
Guitar, Electronics, Design – Keith Rowe
Percussion, Liner Notes, Design – Eddie Prévost
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Evan Parker

CECIL TAYLOR WITH TRISTAN HONSINGER & EVAN PARKER - The Hearth (1989) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Recorded in 1988 as part of Cecil Taylor month in Berlin, this trio, which consists of Taylor, saxophonist Evan Parker, and cellist Tristan Honsinger, is an improviser's dream. Here are two personalities actually strong enough to rein Taylor in and bring the music up out of him instead of the force. Parker chose tenor for this gig, and he and Honsinger play to each other for the first couple of minutes, establishing a mutated kind of blues groove as Taylor sings in his tinny voice and claps in the background. Honsinger's bowed chord voicings offer Parker plenty to work off of tonally, and he does, turning the blues riff into a vamp on thirds, and then elongated harmonic structures that bring Taylor in on the piano after about ten minutes. Taylor enters with arpeggios blazing, but he is reined in by the architecture created by Honsinger in his phrasing. When Taylor is forced to play inside it, his creativity rages; he is full of colors, glissandi, dynamics, and a palette of textures that is dizzying -- so much so that Parker stops playing for a while. When he reenters, it is to slow things down and build upon some of the tonal structures Taylor has been tossing off within Honsinger's phraseology. Parker becomes a mode setter, creating a new layer of intervallic order from each set of overtones, where any player is allowed to push against its walls but not to break them. And from here, a language is established within the trio, making the musicians move into one another more closely, taking bits and pieces and growing ideas out into entire musical universes made by three -- not one plus one plus one. This is a devastatingly fine gig, and one of the best Taylor played the entire month he was in Berlin.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1     Hearth 1:01:31
Tristan Honsinger / Evan Parker / Cecil Taylor
Cello – Tristan Honsinger
Piano – Cecil Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Evan Parker 

EVAN PARKER | BARRY GUY | PAUL LYTTON - Atlăn′tă (1990) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Recorded in 1986 at a concert in Atlanta, the trio of Parker, Guy, and Lytton had even then been playing together for over a decade, and here it shows. Over four pieces, all of them improvised on the spot, Parker leads the trio through the gyrations of his circular improvisation on both soprano and tenor and also through the small and basic elements of "jazz" he respects -- but they get mutated almost immediately, as one might expect. Parker's interplay with his rhythm section is akin to a rough dancer skidding along the floor to a graceful, elegant orchestra. The interplay between Guy and Lytton is so mesmerizing, so completely self-contained, it's Parker who has to focus on them or he'll be lost in the glorious tumult. The rhythmic communication -- especially as Guy pulls out three or four notes, legato, and then slides a chord up the bass as Lytton creates a rhythm around that phrase for Guy to come back to and extrapolate -- is breathtaking. As for Parker, there is little to say except that, despite having to be very physical on this evening, he was aware of everything, offering whatever color and shape, whatever texture or fragment that might be useful to the rhythmic dance, though he was the frontman. This is a must-have for fans of this trio.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Atlăn′tă 25:19
Written-By – Guy, Parker, Lytton
2    Two In One 9:03
Written-By – Guy
3    The Snake As Road Sign 17:05
Written-By – Parker
4    Geometry 20:47
Written-By – Guy, Parker, Lytton
Credits :
Bass – Barry Guy (pistas: 1, 2, 4)
Drums, Percussion – Paul Lytton (pistas: 1, 4)
Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker (pistas: 3)
Tenor Saxophone – Evan Parker (pistas: 1, 4)

EVAN PARKER | GÜNTER CHRISTMANN - Here Now : Solos/Duos (1998) FLAC (tracks), lossless

 This challenging collection of duos and solos by Evan Parker and cellist/trombonist Günter Christmann reveals not only the limits of improvisation, but the territory in which it breaks down. Each player here is afforded two solos. Parker's, as it may be expected, is one of knotty circularity, compressing the tones around one series of notes until they give up every possible sonic combination. His cascading skeins of notes are staggered against an expanding tonal base designed to shrink the actual vibration of the note. When he is paired in both cello and trombone duets with Christmann, situations he has not worked in extensively, Parker's methodology in essence commands or dominates the proceedings. Christmann's cello, as tonally rich and deeply resonant as it is, cannot hope to loop its sonorities around Parker's ever widening circle of compression. Likewise, on the trombone pieces, because of the physicality of the instrument, all he is able to do is create polytonal drones for Parker to circumnavigate time and again. It's only on his solo pieces that Christmann gets to show his true worth as an improviser here, one on each instrument, where he reveals the depths of his shades and tonal textures to the listener's delight. This was a mismatch to be sure, but it's not without its moments.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Cone Of The Future    32:12
2    Cone Of The Past    7:03
3    Here Now 1    9:07
4    Here Now 2    8:22
5    Here Now 3    4:30
6    Quantum    4:36
7    Radix    3:25
8    291142    2:44
Credits :
Cello – Günter Christmann (pistas: 3, 5, 7, 8)
Composed By [All Music Composed By] – Evan Parker (pistas: 1 to 5), Günter Christmann (pistas: 3 to 8)
Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker (pistas: 1 to 5)
Trombone – Günter Christmann (pistas: 4, 6) 

STEVE LACY & EVAN PARKER - Chirps (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This must have been a hell of a concert to see. In 1985, Steve Lacy went to Berlin to play four different concerts, all of them duets with a different partner. Two of them were with pianists, one was with a dancer, and the last was with fellow soprano saxophonist Evan Parker. Given Lacy's gargantuan stature as the foremost jazz soprano saxophonist in the world, and Parker's as the most important member of the British free jazz and new music scene with the exception of Derek Bailey, this had the potential to be one hell of a show. If this recording is any indication of what that evening was like, then it was all that and more. Apparently, each player had the opportunity to play a solo set before this encounter took place. When the two men joined, magic happened. Both players, rather than come out steaming or with deference to the other, entered the musical sphere lyrically with subtlety and elegance. First Lacy, then Parker, went weaving and winding around each other, slipping through an instantaneous modal syntax that gave the other room to move inside and work out from. It would appear the two rehearsed this set because it was so perfectly timed and executed. The three "movements" or "sections" or "selections" all contained their moments of intensity, but none broke the seam of the sound world created by the pair. "Full Scale" was a work out for scales from Lacy's recorded practice books as interpreted by Parker. Next, "Relations" featured each man quoting from his inspirations before creating a new improvisation from the quotes. So different were the quotes, one would have to know the entire history of jazz and classical music to sort through them. But when combined, a tapestry of new jazz was sketched and then emerged fully formed. Finally, "Twittering" offered Lacy's worship of Thelonious Monk and Parker's reading of Lacy reading Monk. It is fascinating to hear how these soloists come just behind one another, as if the entire thought appeared in the moment of the other's first note! This improvisation swings the hardest as each man takes part in creating "rhythm" from the spaces in between themes. They actually end up in the same place at the same time more often than not.
Added to the disc are three selections recorded after the concert. Titled "Nocturnal Chirps," they too are of interest, but are too brief in and of themselves for the players to really sink their teeth in. No matter, they are still brilliant if tiny glimpses into the partnership that was forged on this truly magical night. This is essential listening for Lacy and/or Parker fans. Many kudos to FMP for this one.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
The Concert    
1    Full Scale    20:51
2    Relations    16:35
3    Twittering    4:14
After Hours    
4    Nocturnal Chirps 1    6:03
5    Nocturnal Chirps 2    5:39
6    Nocturnal Chirps 3    5:45
Credits :
Soprano Saxophone, Composed By – Evan Parker, Steve Lacy

EVAN PARKER - Conic Sections (1993) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Of the many solo soprano recordings by British improviser Evan Parker, few offer as intimate a portrait as this one in terms of his development as an artist. In 1993, Parker had hit a new stride in his playing. He worked -- as he does now -- long hours to find a way through the improvisation barrier imposed by the restrictions of circular and conventional breathing, toward a series of microtonal possibilities that were adaptable in virtually any situation, solo or group. His practice had led him to a place of opening the breathing techniques toward new microphonics and multiple sonances. His wish to document them, however, led to his nearly abandoning his findings. He discovered that in the music rooms of Holywell in England, that the harmonic atmospherics of the room, of the architecture itself, provided an entirely new set of tonal and spatial possibilities he hadn't counted upon and proceeded to make a record to document those instead. There are five "Conic Sections" ranging in length from just over seven-and-a-half minutes to over 25. Duration is dependent on how an idea is expressed by the soloist (Parker) and looped back to him by the room itself. Certain tones and phrasings offer far more in the way of complex reverberation -- naturally occurring -- than others, inspiring different angles, shapes and colors from Parker. It's as if he is playing off the room, even though he has instigated the proceedings. The room never quits, and it is obvious that it will have the last sound, play the last note, no matter how hard Parker struggles against that dictum -- and he does for much of the recording. He uses every trick, technique, and grift to try to put off the inevitable, and in the process it takes him to some very interesting places musically. This is an exhausting yet exhilarating set to take in at one setting; it changes the listener's reality, turns it inside out for over 70 minutes, and allows one to hear, as music, some rather confounding sounds and breathing techniques. Amazing stuff.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1     Conic Section 1 17:01
Evan Parker
2     Conic Section 2 11:02
Evan Parker
3     Conic Section 3 25:16
Evan Parker
4     Conic Section 4 9:12
Evan Parker
5     Conic Section 5 7:42
Evan Parker
Credits :
Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker 

EVAN PARKER | BAARY GUY - Obliquities (1995) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is a wonderful duet date by two of the longest-running partners of the British vanguard music scene. First playing together in 1967 and infrequently through and after the foundation of Guy's London Composers Orchestra, which Parker remained a member of, through the '80s and '90s the pair saw their paths cross more frequently than Orchestra dates and sessions. This recording from 1994 finds the duo in fine form and extrapolating on the ideas they explore with Paul Lytton in their long-running trio. Here are new and different contexts for free improvisation as the duo expresses themselves dynamically and timbrally. Guy in particular seems bent on discovering in each exercise just what the bass itself is capable of, and his reactions are always those in which the bass speaks to the particular issue laid out by Parker's saxophones and then moves out a step further until retrenchment is necessary. For Parker's part, on most of the tracks here, especially "Marxbruder," "Belaqua," and "Punta Rversa," his playing is less external, it is focused on the timbral qualities made possible by Guy's playing and explores the softer edge of his improvisational palette. There are moments here when listeners can hear the voice of silence itself singing, and others where silence is punctured by only the most carefully made sounds, while still at others, silence is left to fend for itself as the emotions and the music come to a furied, mischievous pitch.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Marxbrüder    13:47
2    Botta Segreta    3:42
3    Ecliptic    6:32
4    Slope    8:39
5    Belacqua    6:01
6    Lurch    9:49
7    Balestra    9:38
8    Punta Reversa    5:44
9    Fleam    11:36
Credits :
Double Bass, Bass [Chamber Bass] – Barry Guy
Music By – Barry Guy, Evan Parker
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER - Chicago Solo (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded in a Chicago studio and feeling as if it were a live concert, despite his many solo saxophone recordings, the Chicago Solo by Evan Parker is very special. For one thing, this is a completely tenor saxophone set; the trademark soprano is nowhere in evidence. For another, Parker seems very interested in the extended tones of the horn rather than in the fiery creation of microtonal knots of sound. On "Chicago Solo 3," he pulls his tone right from the bell, rolling out notes along the physical properties of the horn itself, exploring each vibration and sub-tone as a color and of its own territory, worthy of exploration and he follows them into the bell and back. His "No. 7" solo he dedicates to Lee Konitz (one of four here, the others are for Chris MacGregor, "Mr." Braxton, and George Lewis), and he utilizes a pair of phrases from Konitz's own solo disc "Motion," and turns them into a wonderland of tonal and harmonic equations that remain unresolved -- perhaps awaiting Konitz to respond? The lower register explorations of "No. 14" are remarkable for their tenacity of embouchure. Parker turns his own lines into bent, mirrored images of themselves, keeps the arpeggio range close to the vest and claims a melody from them that stands in counterpoint to the original phrase. This is a fascinating and very listening disc of solo improvisations, one that is likely never to find a wide enough audience for its brilliant accomplishment on tenor saxophone.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Chicago Solo [12]    1:44
2    Chicago Solo [3]    4:40
3    Chicago Solo [4] For Chris McGregor    3:18
4    Chicago Solo [5]    6:56
5    Chicago Solo [6]    3:20
6    Chicago Solo [7]    5:13
7    Chicago Solo [8] For Lee Konitz    2:57
8    Chicago Solo [9]    2:15
9    Chicago Solo [10]    4:46
10    Chicago Solo [11] For Mr. Braxton    1:44
11    Chicago Solo [13]    4:04
12    Chicago Solo [14]    5:26
13    Chicago Solo [15]    4:23
14    Chicago Solo [16] For George Lewis    8:34
Credits :
Tenor Saxophone, Composed By, Producer – Evan Parker

PAUL BLEY | EVAN PARKER | BARRE PHILLIPS — Time Will Tell (1995) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

This CD contains a series of mostly thoughtful free improvisations featuring three of the giants of the idiom: pianist Paul Bley, Evan Parker (doubling on tenor and soprano) and bassist Barre Phillips. Surprisingly enough, Bley and Parker had never played together before (although Phillips had performed often with both musicians), but they communicate very well including on the lengthy "Poetic Justice," their initial meeting. Nothing was preplanned for the set, and in general, it is very much a Paul Bley session. The emphasis is on free ballads and mood pieces with Parker sounding somewhat restrained. He actually cuts loose much more on his two duets with Phillips than he does on the trios. Although the results overall are not classic, the music never fails to hold on to one's interest as the three musicians continually think and evolve together. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1    Poetic Justice 17:18
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
2    Time Will Tell 4:25
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
3    Above The Tree Line 4:48
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
4    You Will, Oscar, You Will 4:55
Written-By – Phillips, Bley
5    Sprung 5:17
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
6    No Questions 5:29
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
7    Vine Laces 4:02
Written-By – Phillips, Parker
8    Clawback 3:12
Written-By – Parker, Bley
9    Marsh Tides 5:41
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
10    Instance 4:24
Written-By – Phillips, Parker
11    Burlesque 7:15
Written-By – Phillips, Parker, Bley
Credits :
Double Bass – Barre Phillips
Piano – Paul Bley
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker

BORAH BERGMAN with EVAN PARKER - The Fire Tale (1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A showdown between the two players with the most comprehensive techniques in jazz -- Borah Bergman and Evan Parker. As a pianist, Bergman breaks down all distinctions between the left and right hands; his style is a multi-layered counterpoint of extreme sophistication and complexity. The equally hyper-dextrous Parker comes as close as any saxophonist ever has to playing counterpoint on a single-line instrument. At full steam, Parker's soprano lines are a continuous, mercuric flow, covering all registers of the horn, segmented by his incredibly fleet and precise articulations. These players do not really complement one another -- in many ways, they're just too much alike -- but neither is likely to find another so technically advanced. Scary and brilliant music. Chris Kelsey
Tracklist :
1    The Fire Tale    19:39
2    Red Shadows    15:19
3    Ascent Through The Vortex    17:38
4    Helixian Steps    4:14
Credits :
Piano, Producer, Composed By – Borah Bergman
Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER | AGUSTÍ FERNÁNDEZ - Tempranillo (1996) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The pairing of legendary soprano saxophonist Evan Parker with Spanish pianist Augusti Fernandez on record is one of those magical dates where everything that happens does so for a reason, and the result clarifies the process without much effort. This is deeply instinctual music that reflects the artist's drive to create against his given means of expression in order to engage it more fully. Parker's skeins of cascading arpeggios are employed throughout here, using his circular breathing technique to take the arc out of arpeggios and render the range of chromatic color useless against his barrage of forced air heroics. Fernandez doesn't play foil so much as accomplice. There is no contrapuntal relationship between pianist and saxophonist. His greased-lightening acrobatics create chords and tone cluster based not on Parker's root idiomatics, but on his sense of intervallic flow and legato phrasing. His unusually large two-handed chords offer a perfect middle drop for Parker to come roiling out of on at least six of this suite's eight parts. Where Parker advances into the mechanics of his horn, Fernandez speaks out of the tonal facility of his pedals and middle register offering Parker the wide way out into the open with his angular dissonances and bleating song lines. There isn't anything remotely "intellectual" about this music, but that said, it is artful carefully considered music that comes from a familiarity with instinctual process. The talk and flow, skip and shove of these two musicians create mannered tensions that are not resolved so much as taken into account. By the time it's all over, and Fernandez touches the last seven 16th notes from Parker's horn with a two chord tonal vamp, the pair will have switched places countless times and will have virtually become one another. This is as fine a duet record as Parker has ever released with anyone, and better than most of them.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1        Part I (Mercerioso)    6:01
2        Part II    8:00
3        Part III    5:07
4        Part IV (31 Davids)    5:38
5        Part V    5:22
6        Part VI    6:41
7        Part VII    5:50
8        Part VIII (Nana For Núria)    3:17
Credits :
Cover – Ferrán García Sevilla
Piano, Composed By, Producer – Agustí Fernández
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Composed By – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER - Evan Parker with Ghost-in-the-Machine (1996) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

This 1993 date featured British saxophone and improvisation god Evan Parker with Copenhagen's Ghost-in-the-Machine trio and Martin Klapper on electronics. This traditional quartet -- saxophones, bass, drums, and piano -- added Klapper to extend the sonic possibilities of all the instruments, which were amplified by microphones, in order to create a further abstraction. The results are studies in texture, atmospherics, and sonic construction rather than spontaneous composition. They hold the listener's interest simply because there is no way to predict what direction any particular passage, let alone entire piece, will take. There are 12 selections here, and all of them are draped in atonal mystery, full of a kind of private language that can be frustrating to find one's self inside of initially. This quintet was making music for its own edification, for its own sense of investigation and discovery. The more outside a work's context the listener is placed in, the deeper one is required to listen to find a common bridge to the recording's sonic language. Since one has to work hard at listening, the results are all the more satisfying -- they are purposeful. If the question "why should I have to work so hard listening to a record," arises, the point inherent in its answer has already been missed.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Beginnings 4:28
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
2    Highup 5:38
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
3    Hipawl 4:57
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
4    Throy 3:11
Music By – E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.F.Nielsen
5    Intertuba / Extremii 13:42
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, P.O.Jørgens
6    Radio Djibouti 4:52
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
7    Tivoli After Dark 7:40
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
8    Free Techno 2:52
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
9    The Base Piano 3:15
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, Evan Parker, P.O.Jørgens
10    Birds In Cages 5:44
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
11    Train 12:22
Music By – C.Irgens-Møller, E.Parker, M.Klapper, P.O.Jørgens, P.F.Nielsen
Credits :
Electric Bass – Peter Friis Nielsen
Percussion, Drums – Pere Oliver Jørgens
Performer [Amplified Objects], Performer [Dictaphone], Tape [Tapes], Toy [Toys] – Martin Klapper
Piano, Synthesizer [Keyboards (DX-7)], Synthesizer [Keyboards (TX-802)], Voice – Christer Irgens-Møller
Producer [Produced By] – Leo Feigin
Recorded By – MIC (Music Information Centre, Denmark) (pistas: 5)
Soprano Saxophone [Uncredited], Tenor Saxophone [Uncredited] – Evan Parker

EVAN PARKER + Ghost-in-the-Machine - New Excursions (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Parker is joined by the outstanding Danish group Ghost in the Machine, and Master of Little Sounds, Martin Klapper for an exquisite set recorded live at the Copenhagen International Experimental Festival. While this is not Parker's first recording with the group, it is distinguished by excellent sound quality and a synergy that comes from familiar interaction. A remarkable quality in Parker is his ability to perform naturally in varied contexts. Here, he comfortably immerses himself in the noise element and alters his technique accordingly. The results are totally compelling, as Peter Friis Nielsen's electric bass guitar and Klapper's "toys, tapes, and amplified objects" provide enough diversity to keep the listener consistently on edge. Ghost in the Machine are likely a blast to watch in person, and the concept somehow translates incredibly well to disc. Steve Loewy
Tracklist :
1    Belgravian Behavior    6:18
2    C.O.D.    2:25
3    Pluto's Trajectory    6:22
4    Deadhead The Roses    6:44
5    Fumado    9:02
6    Block Diagram    4:00
7    Magnitude    13:44
Credits :
Bass Guitar, Composed By – Peter Friis Nielsen
Drums, Percussion, Producer, Mastered By, Composed By – P.O.Jørgens
Keyboards, Composed By – Christer Irgens Møller
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Composed By – Evan Parker
Tape, Toy [Toys], Performer [Amplified Objects], Composed By, Cover – Martin Klapper