Evan Parker is a British free-improvising saxophonist from Bristol, born in 1944. He works in free jazz, avant-garde jazz and free improvisation, and he is especially associated with unaccompanied solo performance as well as ensemble work.

Style and development

Parker first takes inspiration from Paul Desmond, and later draws again on cool jazz saxophonists, with tributes to Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz appearing on Time Will Tell and Chicago Solo. He is also strongly associated with the free jazz and avant-garde currents of the 1960s, when he rapidly absorbs the influence of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler and other American improvisers while developing a personal sound.

His music from the 1960s and 1970s is characterised by harsh, raw textures and uneasy, swirling lines that have clear shape without conventional melody. He also uses pure sound in ways that recall more radical work by Steve Lacy and some AACM musicians. A notable part of his technique is the rapid layering of harmonics and false notes to build dense contrapuntal textures, using methods that include plastic reeds and rapid tonguing.

His playing is known for extreme physical intensity, and his solo performances are a major part of his output. He is also noted for expanding what the saxophone can do in solo performance, including the suggestion of sounding in multiple registers at once.

Groups and collaborations

Parker appears in a large number of ensembles and collaborations, including the Music Improvisation Company, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Spontaneous Music Orchestra, the Schlippenbach Trio, Schlippenbach Quartet, the Peter Brötzmann Octet, the Peter Brötzmann Sextet and Peter Brötzmann Nonet, the Tony Oxley Quintet, the London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, the London Improvisers Orchestra, the Barry Guy New Orchestra, the Cecil Taylor European Orchestra and Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble, and the Chris McGregor Septet, Brotherhood of Breath and the Dedication Orchestra.

Other recurring projects include the Evan Parker Trio, Quartet, Quintet, Octet, Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Electroacoustic Septet and Electro-Acoustic Quartet, as well as School of Velocity, Rocket Science, Trance Map and Trance Map+, Townhouse Orchestra, Strings With Evan Parker, and Sant’Anna Arresi Quintet by Evan Parker. He also performs in the Louis Moholo/Evan Parker/Pule Pheto/Gibo Pheto/Barry Guy Quintet, Parker/Guy/Lytton, 2 X 3 = 5, Elsie Jo, and Fast Colour, among many other settings.

Collaborations listed for him include work with Bill Nace, John Edwards and Chris Corsano, Genjiro Yoshizawa, Barry Guy, Paul Lytton and John Stevens.

Recordings and labels

His recordings on the labels Incus Records and psi are part of his documented discography. Among the titles specifically mentioned are Time Will Tell and Chicago Solo.

Related ensembles and larger orchestras

He also appears in larger and more collective groups such as Globe Unity Orchestra, Iskra 1912, the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, the Wuppertal Workshop Ensemble, Friends of Kenny Wheeler Big Band, the Mike Gibbs Orchestra, the Charlie Watts Orchestra and Charlie Watts and the Tentet, the Stan Tracey and His Orchestra, the Transatlantic Art Ensemble and Transatlantic Trance Map, and Laboratorio della Quercia.