Biography

William Parker is a composer, bassist, multi instrumentalist, author and educator who has recorded over 40 albums as a leader and appears on more than 150 recordings. His work spans solo bass, ensembles such as the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and In Order To Survive, and special projects including The Essence of Ellington. Born in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, he has been a vital voice in creative music since the early nineteen seventies and received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in 2013 and the Vision Festival Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.

He has worked with major artists including Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor and Henry Threadgill. Parker was a member of the Cecil Taylor Unit for more than a decade, and the Village Voice described him as the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time. His recordings as a leader include Oneals Porch, the Raining on the Moon ensemble and the collections Wood Flute Songs and For Those Who Are Still.

Recent highlights include the publication of Observations Selected Works 1967 to 2023, performances at Pierre Boulez Concert Hall in Berlin and the Holocaust Museum in Krakow, Hueys Pocketwatch Big Band at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, the program Ellington in the Morning at BRIC, and the Segue Reading Series at Artists Space in New York with Marina Abramovic. Parker has taught at Bennington College and other institutions, and his books include Who Owns Music, the Conversations series, The Mayor of Punkville and Observations.