Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker

by Cisco Bradley

Overview

Since ascending onto the world stage in the 1990s as one of the premier bassists and composers of his generation, William Parker has perpetually toured around the world and released over forty albums as a leader. He is one of the most influential jazz artists alive today. In Universal Tonality historian and critic Cisco Bradley tells the story of Parker's life and music. Drawing on interviews with Parker and his collaborators, Bradley traces Parker's ancestral roots in West Africa via the Carolinas to his childhood in the South Bronx, and illustrates his rise from the 1970s jazz lofts and extended work with pianist Cecil Taylor to the present day. He outlines how Parker's early influences--Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and writers of the Black Arts Movement--grounded Parker's aesthetic and musical practice in a commitment to community and the struggle for justice and freedom. Throughout, Bradley foregrounds Parker's understanding of music, the role of the artist, and the relationship between art, politics, and social transformation. Intimate and capacious, Universal Tonality is the definitive work on Parker's life and music.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478011194
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	02/12/2021
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Cisco Bradley is Associate Professor of History at the Pratt Institute, editor of the Jazz Right Now blog, and author of Forging Islamic Power and Place: The Legacy of Shaykh Da'ud bin 'Abd Allah al-Fatani in Mecca and Southeast Asia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  ix
Introduction. "Flowers Grow in My Room": Realizing a Vision  1
I. Origins
1. Enslavement and Resistance: From West Africa to the Carolinas to Harlem 15
2. Struggle, Beauty, and Survival: Childhood in the South Bronx  41
3. Consciousness: Art, Politics, and Self in the Mind of a Young Man  61
II. Early Work
4. The Loft Scene: Art, Community, and Self-Determination  93
5. "Music That Will Give People Hope": Centering Dance Music with Patricia Nicholson  124
6. "Music Is Supposed to Change People": Working with Cecil Taylor  148
III. Toward the Universal
7. "It Is the Job of the Artist to Incite Political Revolution": In Order to Survive  173
8. Into the Tone World: Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra  194
9. Toward a Universal Sound: William Parker Quartet and Raining on the Moon  216
10. Honoring the Elders: Tribute Projects and Other Bands  239
11. All People Need Truth to Survive: Recent Work and Legacy  261
Appendix: William Parker Discography  279
Notes  291
Bibliography  359
Index  385

Editorial Reviews

"Excellent and overdue. . . ."

The Quietus - Angus Batey

"As with the best of jazz biographies, there are excellent descriptions of the music to be found on the key albums of Parker’s various groups. And these vivid words send the curious listener scurrying off to hear the music. . . . The biography is an excellent introduction to William Parker’s music and to his role in the free jazz community in New York and the USA."

London Jazz News - Tony Dudley-Evans

"If an antidote to apathy consists of work and proselytizing, then bassist/composer/bandleader, activist and organizer William Parker embodies that antidote. Cisco Bradley has achieved much in simply documenting the extent of his subject’s activities, but he also highlights the spiritual and social dimensions of Parker’s work, all of which is set within music at the free / demanding end of the spectrum, as opposed to the aural balm that jazz in the 21st century often seems to be."

Jazz Journal - Nic Jones

"Bradley's work, currently only in English, really deserves to be translated into multiple languages." (translated from Italian)

All About Jazz - Giuseppe Segala

Writing elegantly about the music as well as William Parker's work as an activist and organizer, Cisco Bradley gives a full sense of Parker's centrality to the development and maintenance of the free jazz scene in New York as well as his efforts in presenting the music across the globe. Universal Tonality is a book worthy of its object.

Black and Blur - Fred Moten

"Cisco Bradley endeavors to pull the diverse parts of the artist's life together in this first ever biography of Parker. It is a monumental task, and like the dozens of biographies of Louis Armstrong that have been published, it is a good start."

All About Jazz - Mark Corroto

"A timely and dynamic picture of the great artist’s travels, to date. Bradley’s book charts a past that also provides many clues and contextual narratives that tell us much about where Parker may be heading."

Free Jazz Collective - Lee Rice Epstein

01/01/2021

In this glorious tribute, Bradley (history, Pratt Institute; editor, "Jazz Right Now" blog) explores bassist and composer William Parker's background, influences, and contributions to free jazz. The author had unprecedented access to Parker and also interviewed family, friends, and collaborators. Born in 1952 in the Bronx, Parker recognized early the "tremendous power" of music and became passionate about the avant-garde's rejection of restrictive chords. He spent nearly 50 years sacrificing material wealth in favor of developing his own style of music; pursuing "universal tonality," or the theory that musicians all over the world should be able to meet and play together; and becoming active in the Black Power and Black Arts movements. As a bandleader, Parker unified dance, music, and voice and expanded the possibilities of jazz while recognizing those who came before him. VERDICT This meticulously researched, affectionate biography analyzes Parker's impact as a musician, a composer, and a political revolutionary. An important work that will appeal to jazz historians, scholars of Black history, and music lovers.—Lisa Henry, Kirkwood P.L., MO

Library Journal

We have precious few monographic works on creative musicians, fewer still on living ones, and none quite like Cisco Bradley's fascinating biography of bassist, bandleader, organizer, and composer William Parker. Bradley situates Parker as part of a historical legacy, skillfully illuminating Parker's career—including his crucial term with Cecil Taylor—as well as the entire underground scene, including the groundbreaking Sound Unity Festival, the enduring Vision Festival, and manifold developments in the New York creative music community. An essential entry in the critical culture reading list.

Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium - John Corbett

"The publication of Universal Tonality . . . is both long overdue and richly appreciated. . . . Anyone interested in the state of the free improvising scene needs to read this book."

New York City Jazz Record - Robert Bush

"Cisco Bradley's insightful, detailed and beautifully illustrated biography is a labour of love. . . . Universal Tonality made me realise that, much as I've always loved his music, I hadn't begun to appreciate William Parker's achievement."

The Wire - Andy Hamilton

"An instant classic of jazz biography, Universal Tonality is a genuinely inspirational read, testament to the transformative power of art."

Tribune - Stewart Smith

"Bradley's book is a full-on biography, both personal and musical, that never gets lost in academic jargon. . . . The book succeeds in its sheer storytelling of a life, through interviews with Parker and his fellow musicians, who consistently connect Parker's music to his life and to the politics of community. One comes away from Bradley's book quite humbled by a journey that seems never to have compromised on creativity or its possibility to bring more justice to the world. The musician that emerges from Universal Tonality is also a poet and a political activist- or maybe it's clearer to say that we come to see Parker as having erased the lines separating those different roles."

Popmatters - Will Layman

"This is long overdue respect and praise for one of the finest and hardest working musicians of the post-war era. William Parker is a national treasure, as this book is a testament to his perseverance."

Music and More - Tim Niland

"The book, while essentially a biography, explains aspects of his musical vision that are exemplified by these recordings. There is an emphasis on vocals and lyrics, and the book goes in some depth with regard to Parker’s interest in poetry and literature, and his love of music from other cultures as well. . . . An important takeaway from Universal Tonality is Parker’s belief that music is in and of itself a revolutionary act, a rebellion against the hatred which he sees as inherent in the current organization of the world."

Rock and Roll Globe - Todd Manning

"Parker is one of the foremost practitioners of what is arguably the greatest Black-led American artistic tradition, i.e. jazz, and Universal Tonality casts him in the full light his work deserves."

Rain Taxi - Patrick James Dunagan

"Parker’s art and family history get explored at length in Cisco Bradley’s illuminating new critical study Universal Tonality, the first William Parker book that William Parker didn’t have to write himself. Parker appreciates the attention—he called it the story of how he rose 'from rags to enlightenment. Note that I didn’t say riches'—but still encourages musicians to tell their own stories, and not just because critics can be slow to catch up."

New York Times - Alan Scherstuhl

"Each of [Parker's] own major projects, including the quartet, Raining On The Moon, Little Huey, and In Order To Survive, is discussed and analyzed in depth; his family history and personal life are documented in detail; and ultimately as full a portrait as possible of William Parker, artist and human being, is painted. Essential reading."

Stereogum - Phil Freeman

"With sources that include Parker himself, poetry and excerpts from his journals, and insights from friends and peers, Cisco Bradley explains how the artist has maintained his focus. In the process, he discusses free/avant-garde jazz perceptively, helping to clear away hyperbole and misunderstanding."

Jazz Times - Mike Shanley