Creation by William Parker / AMR Ensemble

Unbundling the component albums of the monumental Wood Flute Songs Anthology: williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/wood-flute-songs-anthology-live-2006-2012 , this outstanding one-time exclusive world premier large ensemble work is Album Four thereof.

William Parker was commissioned to compose work for an established ensemble of outstanding Swiss musicians together with his outstanding Quartet for world-premiere performance. When the Wood Flute Songs Anthology was first released, three of the six component albums were wholly new work. This album is one of those. The breathtaking singer featured here, Ernie Odoom, would also feature on Parker's Essence of Ellington project, created & released the year following this godhead concert. That recording is here: https://williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/essence-of-ellington-live-in-milano

From the liner notes by WillIam Parker:

"We try to live life to it’s fullest every second that we can.
Life is short and death is still a mystery.”

In Spring of 2011 I was invited to write and direct music for the AMR ensemble in Geneva: 4 saxophones, 1 trumpet, bass clarinet, voice, additional bass, plus the quartet. I have been commissioned to write and present music for many different ensembles around the world, in Germany, Russia, France, Italy, Holland, Hungary. On these occasions I am asked the question what instrumentation would you like to write for, strings, reeds, voices, brass? My answer is usually another question: what is available? I will write for any instrumentation, it doesn’t matter, unless I have something particular in mind. During this period I was very concerned about writing a piece of music that would be healing to my good friend Billy Bang who was fighting lung cancer. Both jazz life and jazz death can be very heavy. I arranged two pieces that were already composed, Wood Flute Song and Deep Flower, written for Andrew Hill. I wrote words for both of these songs that had not existed before; when I was introduced to the singer Ernie Odoom, I began to hear a concept and words for him. All the other music heard on this CD was written in Geneva. Psalm For Billy Bang was written for Billy who died five days after the concert. The mantra throughout this concert is “Help me find a love that’s meant for me that’s all I want.” Billy Bang wanted to shake the specter of Vietnam, play music and live his life.

"I rehearsed with the AMR ensemble for three days, then we put everything together with the quartet Rob Brown, Lewis Barnes and Hamid Drake. The music always surprises me, this concert offered us another option that I could hardly imagine. All the musicians were excellent, moving in the spirit of creation and becoming an extension of the quartet. The music we made on April 6th could not be repeated anywhere, it was conceived and created for the AMR. During the improvisations we were able to cover a large range of material with varied moods and feelings. I did not conduct, I basically directed the composed music. The music was about ninety percent written out, although with regards to sectional parts and solos, all creative decisions were made by the musicians themselves."

is a master musician–improvisor–composer–bandleader–griot–shaman–poet–community leader.

Featured here are the premier works produced for both AUM Fidelity & his own Centering Records imprint, along with select additional works otherwise not readily available.

portrait by
Jimmy Katz

aumfidelity.com
williamparker.net
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