EVAN PARKER - Strings With Evan Parker (2001) 3CD SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This project is credited to Evan Parker's name for convenience, but also because he instigated it. In January 1997, the saxophonist invited a couple dozen improvisers to the studio to perform some large-scale pieces (the last track comes from this session). A year later, he reiterated the invitation, but this time only to a handful of string instruments and electronics players. Nine turned up, all from the British free improv scene. Strings With Evan Parker, a three-disc set, contains the whole session. Parker gave very basic instructions and joined in on soprano saxophone only on about one-third of the music performed that day. The set starts with short pieces ("The Sitting on the Roof Series," a warm opener), then moves to middle-length improvs. The 28-minute "Double Headed Serpent" is a dronelike piece on which Parker later overdubbed a solo -- a conclusive experiment. Disc two features mostly subgroup pieces. Each participant was given the chance to choose a number of players to lead a short improvisation. Results vary but are all interesting. Disc three contains another half-hour long improv with Parker performing with the group in real time. "Single Headed Serpent" is the same take as "Doubled Headed Serpent," minus the overdubbed solo. This experiment with a string ensemble is much more conclusive than the one Parker led with the TonArt Ensemble (released as Brot & Honig on True Muze, 2000). The music follows the vein of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble or the London Improvisers Orchestra (for a more contemporaneous reference). But it seems the album would have had more punch if limited to a two-CD set by omitting "Single Headed Serpent" (it feels redundant), "Flying Spark," and the weaker "The Ghost Series." The price tag accompanying this set makes it an item for fans only. François Couture  
Tracklist :
1-1    The Sitting On The Roof Series 1    6:07
1-2    The Sitting On The Roof Series 2    5:54
1-3    The Sitting On The Roof Series 3    3:37
1-4    Laughing In The House    11:35
1-5    Another Fire Dril    16:31
1-6    Double Headed Serpent    28:04
2-1    The Ghost Series 1: (Pizzicato)    5:15
2-2    The Ghost Series 2: (Pizzicato)    4:12
2-3    The Ghost Series 3: (Arco)    6:44
2-4    Sub-Group MM 1    2:52
2-5    Sub-Group MM 2    3:03
2-6    Sub-Group RD    3:47
2-7    Sub-Group MW    5:02
2-8    Sub-Group PC    6:28
2-9    Sub-Group PD    2:50
2-10    Sub-Group HD    2:47
2-11    Sub-Group JR    5:54
2-12    Sub-Group JE    3:05
2-13    Sub-Group KM    3:47
3-1    The Spider's Web    29:51
3-2    Single Headed Serpent    28:04
3-3    Flying Spark 5:38
Violin – Philipp Wachsmann, Susanna Ferrar
Credits :
Bouzouki, Guitar, Electronics – Peter Cusack
Cello – Marcio Mattos, Mark Wastell
Double Bass – John Edwards
Guitar – John Russell
Harp – Rhodri Davies
Soprano Saxophone – Evan Parker (pistas: 1-6, 2-10 to 2-13, 3-1)
Strings, Performer [Springs], Electronics – Hugh Davies
Violin – Phil Durrant
Violin, Electronics – Kaffe Matthews   

EVAN PARKER OCTET - Crossing the River (2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded at Gateway Studios on May 2, 2005, this session features a generous cross section of Evan Parker's recent musical partners, delightfully recorded as always by engineer Steve Lowe. The lineup consists of Parker (on tenor sax only); regulars Philipp Wachsmann, Marcio Mattos, John Edwards, and John Russell; lesser-known figures pianist Agustí Fernández and clarinetist John Rangecroft; and the too rarely documented Neil Metcalfe on flute. This octet is featured in three pieces, two of them in the 20-minute range. The other half of the album consists of smaller groupings. This is collective free improvisation at its finest, with telepathic turns, instantly choreographed exchanges, and a tight yet detailed group sound, especially in "Octet I," in which Parker himself remains conspicuously discreet. After this intense ensemble piece, the group breaks down into gradually smaller formations for a number of shorter pieces, starting with a strong string quintet (violin, cello, bass, guitar, and piano). Rangecroft displays a lot of uncanny elegance in "Trio III," but the highlight of these small-scale numbers is the "Duo" between Metcalfe and Fernández, oddly romantic in its own way. "Octet 2" gets back to a denser sound and epic interaction, peaking with a frantic episode between strings and saxophone. As a whole, Crossing the River is more subdued or tempered than the average Parker release. It leaves room to breathe, which might offer fans of quieter improv a good occasion to get back in touch with Parker's work. François Couture  
Tracklist :
1    Octet 1    23:41
2    Quintet    10:25
3    Trio 1    3:00
4    Trio 2    5:45
5    Trio 3    6:40
6    Duo    7:05
7    Octet 2    19:18
8    Octet 3    0:40
Credits :
Bass – John Edwards
Cello – Marcio Mattos
Clarinet – John Rangecroft
Flute – Neil Metcalfe
Guitar – John Russell
Piano – Agustí Fernández
Tenor Saxophone – Evan Parker
Violin – Philipp Wachsmann

EVAN PARKER - House Full Of Floors (2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On an inside panel of the booklet for House Full of Floors, Evan Parker’s second release for John Zorn’s Tzadik imprint (and his third album of 2009), he writes simply of the session as if framing a poem: “The plan was to / record the trio. / Aleks Kolkowski / came to make some / wax cylinder recordings / and he stayed / to play some / quartet pieces.” The truth of the matter is, this is hardly disingenuous. The recording actually sounds exactly like its description. Parker, guitarist John Russell, and bassist John Edwards are featured on the majority of this beautiful set in a series of trios and duets that are knotty, subtle, and deeply intuitive improvisational pieces. Kolkowski joins them on a Stroh viola, the saw, and wax cylinder recorder on two tracks as well. Parker’s signature as an improviser is immediate. Whether it’s a series of single-note lines and phrases or tonal clusters rushing out of his tenor or soprano, the control is total. A prime example is “Ca-la-ba-son,” an 11-minute trio piece where we first hear Russell’s acoustic guitar before some breathy elongated tones on Parker’s tenor. Edwards is hammering ever so lightly on the strings of his bass as an empathic rhythmic force. Parker’s sense of “melody” quickly asserts itself and Russell is then coloring the spaces between. It’s a very fast shift, but one that is so precise and intuitive that it could have been scripted. Of course, exchanges happen here, and Parker doesn’t need to control the language of his partners. Players take turns bleeding out the edge with unique techniques in order to follow the sound in the very moment it’s being created.
The soundscapes created by Kolkowski on “Figure Dancing” and “Aka AK” are seamlessly integrated. The informal approach of the viola creating new textures for Parker’s tonal investigations is unique, haunting, and beautiful on the former track -- with some gorgeous, almost lyrical colors and shapes emanating from the quartet -- and cartoony (thanks to the saw, no doubt) and dizzying on the latter one. The title piece, near the end of the album, is also its longest. The most halting of phrases comes from Parker and Russell simultaneously and is underlined haltingly by Edwards at first. The sparse manner of stepping onto new ground quickly and deftly becomes a firm way forward. The stutter, stop, and start movements of the sax and guitar in the middle are accompanied by a droning note by Edwards, who follows it in a “solo” cluster of chords patch, ever so briefly, before the entire group comes together as before, though they're more assertive and ever more labyrinthine as they go in. The album’s final track, "Wind Up," is a spooky, lovely thing. Because of the wax cylinder overdub backing the trio, there are infinitely greater series of tonal possibilities, but these three don’t need them; they work their way into the wax recording, finding an entirely different direction on the way there than the one they previously recorded. There are so many records by Parker at this point that it can feel anticlimactic when a new one appears. But that shouldn’t be, simply because he records when he is looking for something or, as in the case here, simply to record to see what happens. And here, just as is evidenced by the vast majority of his albums, plenty does.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Three Of A Kind    5:52
2    Donne's Banjo    4:45
3    Ca-la-ba-son    11:05
4    Figure Dancing    6:14
5    Aka AK    3:09
6    Kabala-sum-sum-sum    12:34
7    Shown Jot    4:58
8    House Full Of Floors    13:00
9    Wind Up    2:19
Credits :
Bass – John Edwards (pistas: 1, 3 to 8)
Guitar – John Russell (pistas: 1 to 8)
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Producer – Evan Parker
Viola [Stroh Viola], Saw, Instruments [Wax Cylinder Recorder] – Aleks Kolkowski (pistas: 4, 5)