Parker, William
Entry updated 16 April 2024. Tagged: Music, People.
(1952- ) US double bassist, composer and band leader, whose hugely prolific output has been central to free jazz since the 1970s. Ambitious as a composer, equally at home in small groups, big bands and completely free settings, like a number of jazz musicians whose work is rooted in a cosmic spirituality, he has utilized inspiration from sf on several occasions, as titles like Double Sunrise over Neptune (2008) and Mayan Space Station (2021) make clear. His most explicitly science-fictional album is Alphaville Suite: Music Inspired by the Jean-Luc Godard Film (2007), credited to William Parker Double Quartet and referencing Alphaville (1965; vt Une Étrange Aventure de Lemmy Caution) directed by Jean-Luc Godard. This wide-ranging homage includes improvised passages, a string trio, the kind of cool jazz that appears in many a nouvelle vague film, and on two tracks, singer Leena Conquest taking the role of Natacha (Anna Karina) from the film. [CWa]
William Parker
born New York: 10 January 1952
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