Legendary British sax player Evan Parker celebrated his 80th birthday last April. The British label False Walls (which released before Parker and Henry Dagg’s Then Through Now in 2022 and Transatlantic Trance Map’s Marconi’s Drift earlier this year) marks this occasion with a boxset that includes four free improvised solo soprano sax albums, with recordings from 1994 until 2024, with a 120-page book with an extended interview with Evan Parker by Martin Davidson (of Enamem label, surveying the rich career of Parker with many insightful and thoughtful historical anecdotes), an amusing email exchange from 2009 between Parker and Hans Falb (of Konfrontationen Festival, Nickelsdorf, Austria, who asks Parker about his perspective on cultural issues, among them about hell. The always patient and eloquent Parker quotes Noam Chomsky who wrote that the distinction between heaven and hell was invented to «keep the rabble in line»), beautiful visual artwork by Parker, and additional thoughts about Parker’s innovative work by John Corbett (writer-curator-producer of Corbett vs Dempsey label and gallery in Chicago), Filipe Gomes (of the art space Arco Barco in Ramsgate, who mastered the box set), Richard Leigh (writer), Stephen C. Middleton (writer-poet) and Robert Stillman (British multi-instrumentalist-composer).
Parker says about the soprano sax practice: «I’ll die before I have penetrated the mysteries of the soprano saxophone. I could worship it as an object – I could stand it in a shrine in the corner – I’m totally mystified by what it can do. The only limits, as the great (sax player) Sigurd Raschèr said, are in the imagination of the player not the instrument. It’s just a question of allowing the instrument to teach you – show you what it can do – it can do everything».
The first disc, titled «The Heraclitean Two-Step», features two sets of recordings in the Unitarian Chapel in Warwick, from 1994 and 2023. Parker notes that his first, 22-minute solo soprano sax set from 1994 in this chapel, titled «Avon», was one of the best he had ever done and he wanted to explore that space again, then «the saying of Heraclitus about not being able to step in the same river twice started swirling around too». «Avon» is a masterful free improvisation performance that enjoys the unique acoustics and the chapel, flowing organically and evolving in a beautiful, compositional aesthetic, with brilliant exploration of the soprano sax timbres and imaginative play with overtones. The following six, short pieces (all, like «Avon», are titled after rivers, to emphasize the obvious, that no river is the same, and «nearly forty years later, nor were the saxophone, reed, mouthpiece or player») suggest passionate and arresting approaches with changing levels of density to the resonant acoustics of the chapel.
The following, «etc.» three discs were recorded at Parker’s favorite sonic sanctuary in recent years, Arco Barco’s loft space in Ramsgate Harbour. The 31-minute «The Path is Made by Walking» (a quote from a poem by Spanish great poet Antonio Machado) focuses on the complex architecture of the soprano sax sounds, using other extended breathing and percussive techniques in addition to circular breathing and employing silence and fleeting melodic ideas. The seven pieces of the third disc «The Straight and Narrow» (the first six pieces are dedicated to Steve Winwood (who convinced Island Records’ head Chris Blackwell to record The Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Karyōbin, 1968), Luc Ferrari, Steve Lacy, Katy Mullis, Paul Rutherford and Anthony Corteel, Parker’s grandparent) explore the acoustic characteristics of the reflective walls and ceiling with fast, repetitive motifs and through different modes of density as the soprano sax acts as a tool with a constant stream of energy. The Fourth disc «Time Sifts» (titled after a quote from great British biologist Laurence Picken), offers four pieces with dedications to Picken (who after completing his magnum opus The Organization of Cells, left science to study, first Chinese classical music and then later to become an authority on Turkish and related musics and instruments. Parker himself was a student of biology before focusing on music), Eric Ziarko, «für mein Graf» and «to you». The 28-minute title piece and «Geeignet» are magnificent, emotional suites that reflect Parker’s solo practice’s profound and rich artistry.
Gomes says on these «etc.» recordings that Parker was «playing the room as much as his saxophone, conjuring tones that danced with the acoustics of the space. He was orchestrating a symphony of reflections and resonances». Parker describes his solo work in the Arco Barco space in a more modest manner: «What I brought to the occasions was variability in reed behavior and embouchure and perhaps most importantly my state of mind».
A beautiful, deeply inspiring homage to one of the greatest artists living today, always searching and developing his free art.
Listen to Evan Parker’s interview with Matt Wright about the process, philosophy, and creative journey behind this monumental boxset: https://www.ramsgateradio.com/evanparker
Trance Map is the duo of Parker and turntable-electronics player-sound designer-producer Matthew Wright (who introduced Parker to Gomes and the Arco Barco), often performing as Trance Map+ with guest improvisers such as Peter Evans, Barry Guy, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ikue Mori and Ned Rothenberg. Horizons Held Close is the first unadorned Trance Map album featuring only Parker and Wright since their self-titled debut album (psi, 2011).
There is no information about when and where Horizons Held Close was recorded and its two extended pieces «Ulaanbadrakh» and «Ulaanbadrakh» are titled after Mongolian towns. Parker, on soprano sax, and Wright, on turntable live processing and sampling, have established a unique sonic aesthetic. Parker’s snaky sax lines pierce the subtle sonic layers of Wright and create mysterious yet intimate, conversational textures. Often, the sax sounds were multiplied, mutated and manipulated into a restless, unworldly choir until they almost lost their original identity and formed a new, compelling presence.
Eyal Hareuveni
Evan Parker (soprano saxophone), Matthew Wright (turntable, live processing, sound design)
