Evan Parker

Evan Parker is a Saxophoniste of Jazz and impromptu musics English, born on April 5th, 1944 with Bristol. It is famous for its participation in the development of the Free jazz and the impromptu Musique in Europe, like for the development of very personal techniques to the saxophone.

Evan Parker starts to study the saxophone at 14 years. It does not move immediately towards the music, but starts studies of Botanique to the Université of Birmingham, then moves with London. In 1966, Parker starts to play in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, with John Stevens. In 1968, Evan Parker leaves the EMS and starts to play regularly with Derek Bailey, with which it founds the label Incus in 1971.

Influences

Its first influences are the saxophonists of the Cool jazz, in particular Paul Desmond, but Parker pays also homage to Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz on its discs Time Will Such (ECM, 1993) and Chicago Solo (Okkadisk, 1997). In spite of these influences, Marsh, Desmond and Konitz are all of the altists, it chooses to specialize on the saxophones tenor and soprano.

Parker often goes to New York being student, thanks to his/her father, working at British Overseas Airways Corporation, which enables him to travel quasi free. There low, he traverses Greenwich Village assiduously, and impregnates experiments of Paul Bley, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Steve Lacy, and other great names of the free, which will mark it deeply.

Development of the European impromptu music

Evan Parker is especially known for its participation in the development of the European impromptu music in the years 1960. It quickly assimilates the American heritage - John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler in particular - from which it forges his own style, immediately identifiable. This style is based on a fantastic saxophonistic technique which enables him to create true tablecloths of polyphonic sounds , thanks to a perfect control of the circular Respiration and with the development of a personal technique using the Multiphonique S and wrong notes, creating the illusion of the polyphony.

Its first experiments were so intense that it happened sometimes that blood runs out of its saxophone. The sound result of this technique is a tablecloth of whirling sounds, sometimes interfered aggressives sonorities, which creates a fluid impression of multidirectional movement rather than a melody.

Evan Parker off belongs to the Brotherhood Breath where it replaces John Surman. It develops many regular collaborations with Kenny Wheeler, Peter Brötzmann, Irene Schweitzer, as well as a trio with Barry Guy and Paul Lytton.

In 1990, Parker founds the ElectroAcoustic Ensemble where he seeks to develop the interaction between the acoustic computer tools and instruments.

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