Worlds Put
Together
DownBeat Best Album of 2014. Something Else Reviews Album of the Year. All About Jazz: "a fully formed artist." The beginning of everything.
Worlds Put Together is the debut album that started everything. Released on BYNK Records on May 1, 2013 — the same day BYNK came into existence. Each of the songs was meant to evoke a scene from an imaginary movie, with equal parts action and atmosphere.
Matt wanted all the songs under three minutes, like old 78s. "78s are the most fascinating thing. You put on this heavy disc, you lower the needle and you get two and a half minutes of enjoyment. You can actually feel the grooves. It's brilliant." With one exception — "Full Sun," inspired by Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller — he stuck to it.
The album opens with "Eye of Rico," inspired by Hurricane Andrew — raspy unison saxes evoking the polyphonic spirit of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It moves through tender ballads, snake-charming soprano, a Tom Waits-inflected ensemble piece, and closes with "Zeynep's Piano," where Matt brought his whole family into the studio — the children's laughter woven directly into the track.
The band connects the dots between Lester Young and the avant-garde, between vaudeville and free jazz. Critics brought up Rahsaan Roland Kirk — a name Matt had never heard until the album came out. He took it as a compliment.
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The Band
- Matt Parker Tenor Saxophone
- Julio Monterrey Alto Saxophone
- Jesse Elder Piano
- Josh Mease Guitar
- Alan Hampton Bass · Co-Producer
- Reggie Quinerly Drums
"Something fresh is afoot… Restlessly inventive… This promising debut makes him an album-maker to keep tabs on."
"There's joy and fun in everything he does. It's a joy ride from one corner of the idiom to the opposite one."
"What makes this an accomplished and brilliant release is its ingenuity and its inventiveness. Parker has arrived a fully formed artist — one with his own unique voice and singular vision."
"Matt Parker may well be one of the most original and exciting tenor players to arrive on the scene in a decade. An inspiring performance!"
"Crazily exuberant and undeniably soulful. Some tracks go flying off the rails, but that just makes it more exciting. Find of the Week."
"A warmly swinging showcase for his breathy, Ben Webster-esque flow."
Matt Parker isn't eccentric or reclusive — far from it, he's super-friendly and down to earth — and his work isn't primitive or obscure. But there's still something of the outsider artist in the tenor saxophonist. A Fort Lauderdale native who became part of Brooklyn's inspired jazz scene, he is largely self-taught and self-directed.
Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Parker was exposed to little jazz. But his father played Leon Redbone so much, his mother developed an intense hatred of the old-timey standards specialist. During a drive to Indiana, she threw the Redbone tape out the window — only to have him buy a new one at the next gas station. "My sister and I laughed so hard," said Matt.
In 1997, during a school trip to New Orleans, Parker abandoned his class to look for local musicians to play with. In the French Quarter, an unlikely group took him under its wing: Two Joes and a Bob, the youngest member of whom was their 68-year-old clarinetist. The owner of the Gazebo Cafe on Decatur Street offered Parker a summer job. He stayed — playing six days a week, eight to ten hours a day, learning tunes as he sweated it out.
Worlds Put Together is the sound of all those worlds — New Orleans, New York, Miami, Brooklyn — placed side by side and allowed to speak to each other. Every song a scene. Every scene a world. Put together, at last.
Things other people said
Downbeat Magazine named 'Worlds Put Together' as one of the Best Albums of 2014
**** "Something fresh is afoot on tenor saxophonist Matt Parker’s impressive debut, Worlds Put Together .… Restlessly inventive … This promising debut makes him an album-maker to keep tabs on."
—Josef Woodard, DownBeat
Album of the Year:
"Even given the expanded definition of what is “real” jazz, Worlds Put Togetheroften 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. … But Parker is more like Ayler without creating the urge to reach for Excedrin; there’s joy and fun in everything he does. … Parker dutifully worships at the mantle of tradition (he sublimely covers “Darn That Dream”) but then turns it on its ear. … 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."
—S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews
"Crazily exuberant and undeniably soulful. … Some tracks go flying off the rails, but that just makes it more exciting. Just a very fun album. Find of the Week."
—Dave Sumner, Bird Is the Worm
"Parker succeeds admirably in demonstrating an abiding reverence for jazz’s heritage without being overly shackled by its conventions."
—Seton Hawkins, Hot House
"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."
—Hrayr Attarian, All About Jazz
"A warmly swinging showcase for his breathy, Ben Webster-esque flow."
—Time Out New York
"Parker can’t be pigeonholed into just one tradition. … The saxophonist sounds comfortable promenading down multiple paths."
—Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
"Matt Parker may well be one of the most original and exciting tenor players to arrive on the scene in a decade. An inspiring performance!"
—Brent Black, Critical Jazz