Evan Parker

Evan Parker
Moers Festival, 2012
Background information
Birth name	Evan Shaw Parker
Born	(1944-04-05) 5 April 1944 (age 72) Bristol, England
Genres	Jazz, free jazz, free improvisation
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Saxophone
Associated acts	Irene Schweizer, Barry Guy, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Globe Unity Orchestra
Website	www.evanparker.com

Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British saxophone player who plays free jazz.

Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation. He has pioneered or substantially expanded an array of extended techniques. Critic Ron Wynn describes Parker as "[a]mong Europe's most innovative and intriguing saxophonists...his solo sax work isn't for the squeamish."

His original inspiration was Paul Desmond, and in recent years the influence of cool jazz saxophone players has again become apparent in his music — there are tributes to Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz on Time Will Tell (ECM, 1993) and Chicago Solo (Okka Disk, 1997).

Parker is better known, however, for his later work, which rapidly assimilated the American avant-garde — John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler and others — and forged his own, instantly identifiable style. His music of the 1960s and 1970s involves fluttering, swirling lines that have shape rather than tangible melodic content; sometimes he makes use of pure sound in a manner that recalls Steve Lacy's more radical 1970s recordings or the work of some Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) members. He began to develop methods of rapidly layering harmonics and false notes to create dense contrapuntal weaves; these involved experiments with plastic reeds, circular breathing and rapid tonguing which initially were so intense that he would find blood dripping onto the floor from the saxophone. He also became a member of the big band, the Brotherhood of Breath.