This was such an awesome treat to hear Chris Hardwick mention my new album Present Time.
A special thanks to Dr. Manny Rodriguez for making this happen.
Featured
MATT PARKER TRIO / Present Time: It's the tone that grabs you right away on the sax man's second outing. Circling the wagons to only include old classmates of 20 years standing, it's too bad Parker came along around the time the major's stopped supporting creative, high octane outings like this. Playing like he has the knowledge of the history of jazz sax at his fingertips, there's no way you're not going to be taken with this polished, soulful outing that's really more of a thrill ride than any Great America roller coaster. Killer stuff.
- Midwest Record – Entertainment Reviews, News, and Views
Purchase tickets to CD RELEASE SHOW - February, 11th 7pm at National Sawdust (Brooklyn, NY)
For ticket information, please call 646.779.8455 or e-mail boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.
The box office is open daily 12pm-6pm (except on holidays) and during performances.
Producing the newest album by Reggie Watkins -
from left to right: Reggie Quinerly, Orrin Evans, Robin Mahonen
Put together an incredible band of musicians and recorded at Brooklyn Recordings.
Featuring
Reggie Quinerly - drums
Steve Whipple - bass
Orrin Evans - piano
Tuomo Uusitalo - piano
Reggie Watkins - trombone
and myself on tenor and soprano saxophone.
Such a treat to play the music of the great trombonist and composer Jimmy Knepper. His daughter Robin (pictured) joined us in the studio and shared many insights into her father's music and life.
SUCH A TREAT!
Recorded at Brooklyn Recording with the great Andy Taub
Featuring Reggie Quinerly - drums, Alan Hampton - Bass with special guests Emily Braden - vocals and Jerome Jennings - tambourine
Featured in article about Birdman - Academy Awards: 'Birdman' Wins Best Picture Oscar
Honored to be in such great company as one of the best soprano saxophonist of 2014. Along with Branford Marsalis, Wayne Shorter and Dave Liebman for my solo on Chala Nata off Reggie Watkins album - One for Miles One for Maynard. www.reggiewatkinsmusic.com
Chala Nata was one of Maynard Ferguson's songs written in reaction to his time spent in India.
By: S. Victor Aaron
SOMETHING ELSE REVEIWS
Matt Parker – Worlds Put Together: Even given the expanded definition of what is “real” jazz, Worlds Put Together often comes right up to my imaginary fence that separates this music from the avant garde. Parker’s big, scary, emotional tone sometimes conjures up the spirit of Albert Ayler. And like Ayler, he’s unafraid to integrate simple, almost child-like melodies within advanced harmonics.
But Parker is more like Ayler without creating the urge to reach for Excedrin; there’s joy and fun in everything he does. That’s the kind of attitude that led me to also compare him to Rahsaan Roland Kirk in the original review, not to mention that his chops approach those of this imposing sax master. It’s Parker’s daredevil approach to his craft and the earnestness with which he takes those risks that puts this record over the top, ahead of some by some very highly regarded musicians.
All the more astonishing when considering that this is his debut album. Parker dutifully worships at the mantle of tradition (he sublimely covers “Darn That Dream”) but then turns it on its ear (as with “Eye of Rico”). Or is that “knocks it on its ass”? Either way, it’s a joy ride from one corner of the idiom to the opposite one.
January, 2014 issue
source: http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2014/DB1401/single_page_view/84.html
By: Chris Robinson
Voting for Debut of the Year is Gonna Be Tough
Matt Parker, Worlds Put Together (BYNK). Released in May, Worlds Put Together was a pleasant surprise. Being unfamiliar with Parker, a Brooklyn based tenor saxophonist, and the rest of his band, save for drummer Reggie Quinerly, I had no idea what to expect. But not having expectations can be a great thing, as there is nothing from which to prefigure and bias your thoughts. The album opens with the waltz “Eye of Rico,” built on a raucous three note figure played by Parker and alto saxophonist Julio Monterrey. It then moves into a gentler piano solo and includes a crunchy solo by guitarist Josh Mease. Parker’s tone is fairly rough throughout – recalling to a small degree Ayler and Pharoah, although you can hear a little bit of the approach of folks like Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster in his playing. The overall recording has a raw and dynamic quality; it really feels alive and vital. Save for the 10 minute “Full Sun,” the cuts are all under five minutes in length, and a few are less than three. The tunes’ brevity gives them a sort of character piece feel. “Lists” is extremely dark and brooding. “Up and Down,” another tune in triple meter, is more playful and celebratory, and with two drummers and with collective improvisation, there’s a somewhat unbridled vibe. The only cover is “Darn that Dream,” a duet between Parker and Monterrey. The pair give it a left of center, outward-leaning reading that is decidedly non-balladic. The final third features Parker’s rapid runs, and the ending finds both men heading towards the upper ends of their horns, with Parker concluding with an altissimo squeal that’s perfectly in tune. At the end of the “Up and Down,” you hear someone say “that was awesome.” That phrase pretty much sums up Worlds Put Together, a stunning and stimulating recording. It’s one of my favorite albums of the year – be it debut or otherwise.
By: Dave Sumner
Matt Parker – “Worlds Put Together”There is something positively exuberant about Worlds Put Together, the debut album by Matt Parker. It’s the kind of thing that, as spectacle, one can’t help but smile while witnessing it. The effusive boisterousness is heaped on in large portions, and just when it seems like the train will jump the tracks, the floor drops away and leaves behind a skittering piano solo or a harmonic interlude… all before the cacophony returns at full tilt. This is the drama of the theater, playing out one scene at a time.
Your album personnel: Matt Parker (tenor & soprano sax), Reggie Quinerly (drums), Alan Hampton (bass), Jesse Elder (piano), Julio Monterrey (alto sax), Josh Mease (guitar), and guests: Mikkel Hess (drums), Jimmy “Taps” Sutherland (tap dance), and Zeynep, Noah, Bora, Ezra, Charney, Sharon, Shana Bromberg (vocals on one track).
The “Eye of Rico” opens the album with the skronking of saxophones, piano that leaps off a cliff, and a rhythm section that treats percussion like a wall built to crash through.
“I Can’t Help It” is a conversational aside, a tangential discussion carried out by Parker’s sax and Mease’s guitar. Elder makes an entrance on piano, and steers the song to a cheerful conclusion.
The tone does a full reverse on third track “Lists,” which has an ominous presence played out as a moody piece. Quinerly’s drums sulk and crash in equal measure as the saxophones of Parker and Monterrey hum nervously.
“WPT” and “New Bossa” return to the album’s boisterous persona of the first act, but whereas the the former track can barely contain itself, the latter proceeds with a resolute patience.
“Up and Down” is a chorus line raging on amphetamines that gets swept up in the tornado that is “Alien Baby,” a song that begins with fury and ends with brooding. This leads to the one cover, that of “Darn That Dream,” a song that Parker recalls from his time performing with the Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau Band. Parker’s rendition has a low center of gravity, but a high dispersion rate. This differs from the up-tempo “Full Sun,” a song that hustles straight ahead, with melody riding on the shoulders of Hampton’s bass and Quinerly’s drums.
The album ends with, first, with the whimsical “Zeynep’s Piano,” a song with the cheerful celebratory nature of a spiritual jazz tune, with a sing-song melody, the rattle of percussion, and a children’s chorus. The finale is “New Bossa (Reprise),” a (slightly) pared-down version of the album’s fifth track. It gives the sense of the band walking off stage, still playing their instruments, and marching right out of the theater.
Released on BYNK Records, which appears to be Parker’s own label.
Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.
The cool album cover designed by Lauren Webster.
By: HRAYR ATTARIAN
Genre bending saxophonist Matt Parker’s debut album, Worlds Put Together, is a collection of mostly short pieces that crackle with originality and are imbued with an urgent and imaginative spontaneity. These are not mere sketches for expanded and more developed future compositions. They are conceptually crystalized, complete yet free-flowing and raw works that pack a visceral and intellectual punch.
The atmospheric “Lists,” for instance, opens with bassist Alan Hampton’s mystical and resonant bowing over drummer Reggie Quinerly’s intriguingly dark rumble. The other musicians follow in a somber and otherworldly procession. Parker’s beseeching and guttural tenor echoes in the background.
This kind of cinematic flair marks almost all of the tracks. The gripping “Alien Baby” evolves from furious group play replete with howling saxophones and manic percussion to a quiet yet eerily strange mellifluous ballad, one that unfolds in a desolate and poetic sonic landscape. The tune stands in stimulating contrast to the playful lullaby “Zeynep’s Piano,” which features Parker at his most laid back, letting loose his rough-hewn but gentle tenor over children’s wordless singing and toy instruments.
A sharp wit and subtly irreverent whimsy reappear periodically. Parker and altoist Julio Monterrey, for example, deconstruct the sole standard “Darn That Dream” down to its very essence. Elsewhere on “WPT” Parker matches his honking saxophone with tap dancer Jimmy “Taps” Sutherland’s intricate and fast paced footwork. The rest of the band concludes the track by restating the galloping and deeply melodic theme.
The centerpiece of this unconventional and engaging record is the intensely intimate “Full Sun.” Hampton’s pizzicato reverberations and Quinerly’s gentle cymbal strikes set the mood. Pianist Jesse Elder’s contemplative, warm lines flow, with an occasional delightful atonality, over insistent rhythms and guitarist Josh Mease’s electrifying swells of sound. Parker’s own fervent and dramatic improvisation is quite exploratory, though melodious and with plenty of understated humor.
What makes Worlds Put Together an accomplished and brilliant release is its ingenuity and its inventiveness. Parker has arrived on the creative music scene a fully formed artist—one with his own unique voice and singular vision.
By: Michael Verity
Along with reviewing records by well-known folks like George Benson and Terence Blanchard, I’m compelled to keep you up to speed with what’s going on with the indies, as well. Included herein, a look at a tasty record by San Francisco drummer Brian Andres, music by flawlessly talented guitarist Lawson Rollins, a set by a gutsy singer named Agachiko and a listen to an innovative sax player named Matt Parker.
Matt Parker’s music starts out anxious and noisy, retreats into the dreamy soundscape of early early morning, then shocks you out of your sleep by blowing back your hair like an oncoming train in a New York subway. And that’s just the first song! The rest of the Fort Lauderdale native’s debut on BYNK is equally beautiful and shocking and disarming, a set of music that takes you places you never expect.
“I Can’t Help It” is an inquisitive 90-second piece that tries on a traditional jazz melody just before kicking its shoes off and leaving the room, like a woman who’s lost interest. “Lists” is an echoing walk down a desolate street, a lovely yet disconcerting soundtrack to one more lonely night.
Seldom (hardly ever!) does one hear a sax and tap dance duet these days but Worlds Put Together solves that dilemma, pairing Parker with Jimmy “Taps” Sutherland on the cut “WPT,” (which we can assume stands for “World’s Put Together). The two-and-a-half minute tune seems tame enough, with Parker and Sutherland sparring together. Then the band spins off into a disjointed vaudeville adventure and, like every other song on the record, the listener ends up asking how he got where he stands.
There are times when the noise gets a little self-indulgent (“Alien Baby”) but, overall, Worlds Put Together is a gloriously challenging record that makes beautiful noise into beautiful music.
A warmly swinging showcase for his breathy, Ben Webster-esque flow.
—Time Out New York
Such an honor to have my new album "Present Time" named by DownBeat Magazine as a Best Album of 2016 giving it ★★★★1/2 STARS