AARON PARKS - Emotional Transparency & Vulnerability
Pianist Aaron Parks is one of a number of young musicians making a big splash in the big pond that is New York, and happily for those of us that may live somewhat further a field is also making his international reputation through recordings that can be readily sourced. My first encounter with Parks was on a recording released by ex-pat British saxophonist Will Vinson, on the altoist’s album It’s For You recorded in 2004 for UK based label Sirocco Jazz, and the pianist has also recorded three albums for Blue Note with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, as well as recording his own quartet date, the critically acclaimed Invisible Cinema, for the label in 2008.
This month now sees the release of his latest project, Arborescence, see October's CD Reviews, a set of solo piano recitals on ECM Records, an album of delicate beauty that has a thread of optimistic melancholy that runs right through the programme of largely improvised pieces.
This month now sees the release of his latest project, Arborescence, see October's CD Reviews, a set of solo piano recitals on ECM Records, an album of delicate beauty that has a thread of optimistic melancholy that runs right through the programme of largely improvised pieces.
When listening to Arborescence it seems to have been tailor made for the label, so I asked Aaron how the association with ECM came about. “Happenstance, you might say. When the music from Arborescence was recorded, it didn't have a home on any label. My friend Sun Chung, the producer of the record, had heard me playing solo in various circumstances and suggested that we find a way to record some and see what happened. So we went up to Mechanics Hall in November 2011 with an engineer and some microphones and spent a couple of days there. At first, we were thinking of releasing the record independently, but then Sun ended up getting a job at ECM. Manfred Eicher heard the recordings and was open to releasing them.”
Arriving at the studio, as Parks describes” with an engineer and some microphones” may be considered as taking a
chance on the how the music will turn out, and with no set agenda other than to establish a “some kind of emotional transparency.” Amongst the improvised pieces there are two original compositions by Parks, 'Elsewhere' and 'Homestead', that instead of standing alone as predetermined pieces of music blend with the improvisations as if they too were spontaneous creations. So was it a deliberate decision to incorporate these in the set? “I wouldn't say there was so much about this particular recording that was deliberate at all, on my end” explained the pianist. “We just decided upon the performances which felt the most living, somehow. And those two songs were among them. There were some standards and some other originals of mine which I recorded as well. But in the end I found that
the total improvisations were what interested me most, perhaps because of their
imperfection and naked vulnerability.”
In a setting such as this, with just the piano in front of you, I asked the pianist how he approached the music.
In the process of simply allowing the music to flow was he aware of influences that may have, consciously or unconsciously, brought into play during the recording? “That’s hard to say. Everything I've listened to is an influence in
some way. I wouldn't say that I had so many conscious reference points when I went up to make this album. But there's a great deal of solo piano music which has inspired me a lot over the years, including, but certainly not limited to, Paul Bley, Thelonious Monk, Aki Takahashi, Ran Blake, and of course many others.” Continuing, Parks adds “Keith Jarrett is also an undeniable influence. I was at his solo concert that became the Carnegie Hall recording. The music was something that went beyond intriguing me intellectually or entertaining me or even touching me emotionally. It was a physical resonant power – that’s something to aspire to.”
Playing solo piano recitals or concerts is not for the faint hearted, and even more so if the source material is spontaneously improvised as every nuance can be clearly heard and is open to scrutiny. Also having no props or crutch to fall back on in the way of tunes or notated themes the player must rely solely on their own intuition in this most exposed of musical situations. Given his penchant for ‘transparency’ and revealing a ‘naked vulnerability’ in his solo playing I asked Aaron playing solo was something that he did on a regular basis or something that he wished to
develop further? “Actually, I'd only played a handful of solo concerts before we recorded this album” he replies, “I'm looking forward to having the chance to develop this further and discover where it leads.”
Arriving at the studio, as Parks describes” with an engineer and some microphones” may be considered as taking a
chance on the how the music will turn out, and with no set agenda other than to establish a “some kind of emotional transparency.” Amongst the improvised pieces there are two original compositions by Parks, 'Elsewhere' and 'Homestead', that instead of standing alone as predetermined pieces of music blend with the improvisations as if they too were spontaneous creations. So was it a deliberate decision to incorporate these in the set? “I wouldn't say there was so much about this particular recording that was deliberate at all, on my end” explained the pianist. “We just decided upon the performances which felt the most living, somehow. And those two songs were among them. There were some standards and some other originals of mine which I recorded as well. But in the end I found that
the total improvisations were what interested me most, perhaps because of their
imperfection and naked vulnerability.”
In a setting such as this, with just the piano in front of you, I asked the pianist how he approached the music.
In the process of simply allowing the music to flow was he aware of influences that may have, consciously or unconsciously, brought into play during the recording? “That’s hard to say. Everything I've listened to is an influence in
some way. I wouldn't say that I had so many conscious reference points when I went up to make this album. But there's a great deal of solo piano music which has inspired me a lot over the years, including, but certainly not limited to, Paul Bley, Thelonious Monk, Aki Takahashi, Ran Blake, and of course many others.” Continuing, Parks adds “Keith Jarrett is also an undeniable influence. I was at his solo concert that became the Carnegie Hall recording. The music was something that went beyond intriguing me intellectually or entertaining me or even touching me emotionally. It was a physical resonant power – that’s something to aspire to.”
Playing solo piano recitals or concerts is not for the faint hearted, and even more so if the source material is spontaneously improvised as every nuance can be clearly heard and is open to scrutiny. Also having no props or crutch to fall back on in the way of tunes or notated themes the player must rely solely on their own intuition in this most exposed of musical situations. Given his penchant for ‘transparency’ and revealing a ‘naked vulnerability’ in his solo playing I asked Aaron playing solo was something that he did on a regular basis or something that he wished to
develop further? “Actually, I'd only played a handful of solo concerts before we recorded this album” he replies, “I'm looking forward to having the chance to develop this further and discover where it leads.”
If Arborescence delivers much, and holds a promise of more to come in this vein, then the session for the album also yielded an unexpected surprise with the chance encounter with the South Korean singer and fellow New York resident, Yeahwon Shin, and the resulting album that they recorded together. So I asked Aaron how did this meeting come about? “Well, I actually had known Yeahwon for a while before, and in fact we were, and are, close friends, but we'd never played music together before. On a whim we decided to try improvising together at the end of the last day of my solo session, and it felt natural. So we just went from there.” The resultant album entitled Lua ya was eventually recorded some five months later, and again was up by Manfred Eicher and released on ECM Records. If Parks’ playing exhibits subtle
differences in accompanying a vocalist then he is still very much his own man,
and the touch at the piano is unmistakably his with a tentative and listening approach evident. This is an essential ingredient in the success of Lua ya as much of the material although based on traditional songs from Yeahwon’s childhood the improvisatory content of the music is significant, and it is this spontaneous nature of the music that give the performances a life of their own. A full review of the album can be found in September’s CD Reviews.
As a busy working musician, Aaron has found himself working in a number of contexts and with a wide variety of
artists. He currently leads a trio with bassist Thomas Morgan, and drummer RJ Miller and a download of a performance Alive In Japan can be heard on Aaron’s website, www.aaronparks.com. Of the trio Aaron enthuses “I love playing with Thomas and RJ! Two incredible musicians and human beings. There's no plans for a studio
recording at present, however; the download Alive In Japan is its own thing, I'd say. Although the sound quality leaves much to be desired, I think it feels pretty good overall.
As well as his trio he is also part of the collective quartet James Farm with Joshua Redman, and is also a member of Kurt Rosenwinkel's New Quartet (with Eric Revis& Justin Faulkner), and also plays in the band of bassist/composer named Chris Morrissey. So what plans does he have for the future? After some consideration Parks replies “Certainly more solo concerts; I'm curious to continue on this trajectory and see how things grow. I'm also pretty excited about a new band I'm assembling which will be playing some of my more structured compositions. I want to collaborate more
with vocalists. And play with some of the older master musicians who are still here. I've got all sorts of pipe dreams. We'll see!”
differences in accompanying a vocalist then he is still very much his own man,
and the touch at the piano is unmistakably his with a tentative and listening approach evident. This is an essential ingredient in the success of Lua ya as much of the material although based on traditional songs from Yeahwon’s childhood the improvisatory content of the music is significant, and it is this spontaneous nature of the music that give the performances a life of their own. A full review of the album can be found in September’s CD Reviews.
As a busy working musician, Aaron has found himself working in a number of contexts and with a wide variety of
artists. He currently leads a trio with bassist Thomas Morgan, and drummer RJ Miller and a download of a performance Alive In Japan can be heard on Aaron’s website, www.aaronparks.com. Of the trio Aaron enthuses “I love playing with Thomas and RJ! Two incredible musicians and human beings. There's no plans for a studio
recording at present, however; the download Alive In Japan is its own thing, I'd say. Although the sound quality leaves much to be desired, I think it feels pretty good overall.
As well as his trio he is also part of the collective quartet James Farm with Joshua Redman, and is also a member of Kurt Rosenwinkel's New Quartet (with Eric Revis& Justin Faulkner), and also plays in the band of bassist/composer named Chris Morrissey. So what plans does he have for the future? After some consideration Parks replies “Certainly more solo concerts; I'm curious to continue on this trajectory and see how things grow. I'm also pretty excited about a new band I'm assembling which will be playing some of my more structured compositions. I want to collaborate more
with vocalists. And play with some of the older master musicians who are still here. I've got all sorts of pipe dreams. We'll see!”
For more information visit Aaron’s website at
www.aaronparks.com
and
www.ecmrecords.com.
Photographs of Aaron Parks by Bill Douthart.
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