Cereal Music by William Parker & Ellen Christi

[AUM119]

William Parker: texts, recitation, bass, flutes
Ellen Christi: sound design, production, vocals
[additional contributors noted in credits below]

Cereal Music is master bassist–multi-instrumentalist–composer–improviser–community leader William Parker’s first spoken word album – poetry and observations from a profound life devoted to the path of finding truth in beauty and speaking truth to power. We have Ellen Christi to thank two-fold for this deep & affecting album of work. The producer & singer had for some time exhorted Parker to do a project featuring his voice, his words. And the deeply sensitive, track-for-track distinct, sound design architectures for his spoken texts which she has exquisitely crafted here.

William Parker’s music –in its vast scope & range of form– has been an elemental nutrient of countless listeners lives for nigh on five decades. William’s words –whether published on page or spoken from the stage– are a part of that music. They speak on the beauty of life itself, amplifying the light of life ever-present, even in exceptionally difficult circumstance. As his first artistic expression, Parker began writing as a young person growing up in the South Bronx projects, presenting an alternate perception of often bleak surroundings and living conditions in the neighborhood. This early awareness that there was another way of -being- in the world, suffused his early development into a singularly generous artist and human being.

Ellen Christi’s singing brings that same luminous affirmation in the beauty of life and living it. She & William’s most recent previous work together, THE MAJESTY OF JAH [ Volume 3 of williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/migration-of-silence-into-and-out-of-the-tone-world-volumes-1-10 ], is a tremendous feature for her voice. That album also includes the track, “Baldwin”, w/ James Baldwin’s ever-powerful words and voice resonating even more profoundly within the sonic architecture created around them by Christi. When she got in touch to tell me she'd begun work on a similar album- length project of William’s spoken texts, I immediately asked that she please send the pieces as she finished them. And on hearing, I was deeply moved again, and again.

On the CD/DL bonus tracks:
“Batala” & “Windshield Wipers” are from the same sessions but were not included in the final sequence, as created for the LP edition. “Prayer” is a composition by William which first appeared on his Corn Meal Dance album. Ellen had long wanted to arrange and record her own version of this beautiful song, and she completed it just in time to be included here. I am very happy that she did!

–Steven Joerg / AUM Fidelity

Since the mid-seventies, Ellen Christi has steadily gained ground as an important contributor to American improvised music and contemporary jazz. As a composer/vocalist, Ms. Christi has worked in venues ranging from multi-media theatrical productions to solo vocal concerts. She has also been an active advocate in supporting performing artists through organizations that she has co-founded.

ellenchristi.com
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