Conic Sections | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1993 | |||
Recorded | June 21, 1989 | |||
Studio | Holywell Music Room, Oxford, England | |||
Genre | Free improvisation | |||
Length | 1:10:30 | |||
Label | Ah Um 015 | |||
Producer | Nick Purnell | |||
Evan Parker chronology | ||||
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Conic Sections is a solo soprano saxophone album by Evan Parker. It was recorded on June 21, 1989, at Holywell Music Room in Oxford, England, and was released on CD in 1993 by Ah Um Records. In 2008, it was reissued by Parker's Psi label. The album is dedicated to the memory of Parker's friend Kunio Nakamura. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
According to Parker, the recording came about when he decided to document the current state of his playing, and impulsively contacted recording engineer Michael Gerzon, who managed to book the Holywell Music Room on short notice. [6] However, he later recalled: "The acoustics of the Rooms are so distinctive that I was pushed away from the kind of playing I'd had in mind; it seemed as though the room itself had something in mind too." [6]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [8] |
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "This is an exhausting yet exhilarating set to take in at one setting; it changes the listener's reality, turns it inside out for over 70 minutes, and allows one to hear, as music, some rather confounding sounds and breathing techniques. Amazing stuff." [1]
Martin Longley of All About Jazz called the album "a significant work," and stated: "All of [Parker's] tics have now been bound together into a merged voice, providing an alternative form of minimalism that can also be, upon tilting the ears, considered as maximalism... Parker's development of circular breathing techniques had now opened up the potential for marathon flowing." [9]
Writer John Fordham described the album as "a remarkable exposition of [Parker's] talents," and commented: "Parker's achievement is to create a saxophone soundscape of completely personal materials, with little or no references to orthodox idioms, yet deliver it with such intensity - and sometimes ferocity - as to make its vocabulary and syntax utterly logical." [10]
Writing for Coda , Stuart Broomer remarked: "the music gains from the room's very lively acoustics. Parker seems to be playing the room as much as he is playing the saxophone, and the room seems to be joining in, playing the saxophone and the saxophonist." [11]
In an article for Paris Transatlantic, Nate Dorward wrote: "this album marks the logical endpoint to Parker's solo music--he didn't record another until Lines Burnt in Light (2001), which just sounds like a footnote to this one – but it's still one of his most perfectly realized creations." [12]
Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Saxophone Solos is a solo soprano saxophone album by Evan Parker. Three of the tracks were recorded live on June 17, 1975, at the Unity Theatre in London, and the remaining music was recorded on September 9, 1975 at the FMP Studio in Berlin. The album was initially released on LP in 1976 by Incus Records, and was reissued on CD in 1995 by Chronoscope records with nine additional tracks bearing subtitles from Samuel Beckett, again on CD in 2009 by Psi Records, and again on LP in 2021 by Otoroku Records. The contents of the album, plus a previously-missing track from the studio session, were also included in a 1989 limited-edition box set compilation titled Collected Solos, issued by Cadillac Distribution.
Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 is a live album by jazz saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell recorded in Germany in September 2004 and released on ECM in 2007.
Boustrophedon is a live album by free jazz saxophonist and composer Evan Parker and the Transatlantic Art Ensemble, featuring Roscoe Mitchell, recorded in Germany in September 2004 and released on ECM in 2008.
Memory/Vision is a live album by the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble recorded at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo in October 2002 and released on ECM the following year.
The Moment's Energy is an live album by the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble recorded at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in November 2007 and released on ECM in 2009.
What/If/They Both Could Fly is a live album by Evan Parker and Joe McPhee recorded Norway in 2012 and released on the Norwegian Rune Grammofon label.
Ode is an album by the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra composed by bassist Barry Guy and conducted by his teacher, Buxton Orr. It was recorded as part of the English Bach Festival at the Oxford Town Hall in 1972 and first released as a double album on the Incus label then as a double CD on Intakt in 1996 with additional material.
Three Blokes is a live album by saxophonists Lol Coxhill, Steve Lacy and Evan Parker recorded in Berlin in 1992 and first released on the FMP label in 1994.
Atlanta is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker. It was recorded in December 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia, and was released by Impetus Records in 1990. On the album, Parker is joined by bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton.
At the Unity Theatre is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lytton. It was recorded in January 1975 at the Unity Theatre in London, and was released later that year by Incus Records. The album was reissued on CD, with three extra tracks, by Psi Records in 2003.
Music for David Mossman: Live at Vortex London is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker, double bassist Barry Guy, and drummer Paul Lytton. It was recorded on July 14, 2016, at the Vortex Jazz Club in London, and was released in 2018 by Intakt Records. The album is dedicated to the founder of the Vortex, who died in December 2018.
Naan Tso is an album by the free improvisation ensemble known as Foxes Fox, featuring saxophonist Evan Parker, pianist Steve Beresford, double bassist John Edwards, and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. It was recorded on October 27, 2004, at Gateway Studios in London, and was released in 2005 by Psi Records. The album was recorded five years after the group's debut album, and roughly a year prior to the departure of Moholo-Moholo, who moved back to his native South Africa in September 2005 after years of exile in England.
Descension (Out of Our Constrictions) is a live album by Natural Information Society, featuring guimbri player Joshua Abrams, bass clarinetist Jason Stein, harmonium player Lisa Alvarado, drummer Mikel Patrick Avery, and special guest soprano saxophonist Evan Parker. It was recorded on July 9, 2019, at Cafe Oto in London, and was released in 2021 by both Eremite Records, based in the United States, and Aguirre Records, a Belgian label.
'Smatter is an album by saxophonist Gerd Dudek. It was recorded on February 20, 1998, at Gateway Studios in London, and was issued in 2002 by Psi Records as the label's second release. On the album, Dudek is joined by guitarist John Parricelli, double bassist Chris Laurence, and drummer Tony Levin. The album features three compositions by Kenny Wheeler, including the title track, plus three jazz standards.
The London Concert is a live album by guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Evan Parker. It was recorded on February 14, 1975, at Wigmore Hall in London, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by Incus Records. In 2005, it was reissued on CD by Parker's Psi label with additional tracks, and in 2018, it was reissued on vinyl in remastered form but with the original four track format by Cafe Oto's Otoroku label.
As the Wind is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker on which he is joined by percussionists Toma Gouband, playing lithophones, and Mark Nauseef, playing metallophones. It was recorded on September 22, 2012, at St Peters in Whitstable, England, and was issued on CD in 2016 by Psi Records as the label's final release.
The Bleeding Edge is a live album by saxophonist Evan Parker, cellist Okkyung Lee, and trumpeter Peter Evans, three musicians from different continents, playing instruments of different families. Featuring five improvised duos and six trios, it was recorded on May 4, 2010, at St. Peter's Church in Whitstable, England, and was released on CD in 2011 by Psi Records.
America 2003 is a two-disc live album by saxophonist Evan Parker, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, and drummer Paul Lytton. It documents two concerts presented during a month-long tour of the United States, with disc one recorded on May 1, 2003, at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, and disc two recorded on May 14, 2003, at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. The album was released on CD in 2004 by Psi Records.