Restocked; lower price!  William Parker has long taken an active role in the presentation of his own art (self-produced records/CDs, concerts, festivals, publications) and that of others.  That initiative continues with this major work, an anthology of musician-to-musician interviews in the lineage of Arthur Taylor’s seminal “Notes and Tones”.  Approximately 12 years in the making, “Conversations” has hallmarks of being a very personal project, spotlighting many musicians who are largely unknown to even avid fans of the music but very much a part of its secret history. 

On a personal note, it was an honor to first publish a version of the Louis Moholo interview found in “Conversations” in 50 Miles of Elbow Room issue #2 and to do the initial transcriptions for the majority of these interviews.

“During the last 10 years, William Parker interviewed 32 of his friends and colleagues, musicians and artists. In addition to the 32 interviews, edited by Ed Hazell, the book contains photographs by Jacques Bisceglia and a CD with excerpts of the interviews and great William Parker bass solos.” – RogueArt

Interviewees: Fred Anderson, Billy Bang, Han Bennink, Jacques Bisceglia, Dave Burrell, Roy Campbell, Cooper-Moore, Wilbert de Joode, John Edwards, Ge Gan-Ru, Charles Gayle, Alan Glover a.k.a. Juice, Milford Graves, Clyde Kerr, Joelle Leandre, Frank Lowe, Nicole Mitchell, Louis Moholo, Joe Morris, Sunny Murray, Sainkho Namtchylak, Jalalu Kalvert Nelson, Patricia Nicholson, Carl Lombard a.k.a. Pelikan, Walter Perkins, Richard Rodriguez, Paul Rogers, Alan Silva, Warren Smith, Oluyemi Thomas, Henry P. Warner, and Mark Whitecage

"Crumbling In the Shadows Is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake is a limited edition box set comprising 3 albums of William Parker solo bass performances/compositions in full tandem with a 48-page booklet of all-new William Parker writings (poems, dreams, meditations and more).  Very powerful and profound music and words, through and through.  Cinematic excursions on solo bass accompanied with words that present a fully seasoned new recipe for life. The first two CDs are new works recorded in August 2010; the third CD in the set reissues Parker's first solo bass album, Testimony, originally released in 1995 and long since out of print." - AUM Fidelity.  Limited edition of 1000, private pressing on Parker's own Centering label.

2007 reissue of William Parker and Hamid Drake's classic Piercing the Veil, with a full-length bonus disc of a killer live performance recorded at AUM Fidelity's homebase in April 2000. The music is in the tradition of Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell's classic Mu sessions for BYG/Actuel, with free jazz musicians taking cues from other fire musics from around the world and running with them. (The title "Black Cherry" from Piercing would seem to acknowledge these roots.) Joyous and powerful music.

Credits:
William Parker: bass, balafon, shakuhachi, bombard, dumbek, slit drum
Hamid Drake: drums, tabla, frame drum, bells

William Parker and Hamid Drake have been one of the most celebrated and prolific rhythm sections in modern jazz for over a decade, and they clearly love to create music together. They are especially adept at incorporating a broad range of musical traditions into their sound and they tend to give this approach a greater focus when working as a duo. Summer Snow covers a lot of territory, from meditative pieces for shakuhachi, to loose, swinging, and funky bass/drums tracks. "Faces" is a personal favorite, a lovely dance for doson'ngoni + frame drum.

William Parker: doson'ngoni, shakuhachi, dumbek, talking drum, water bowls, bass
Hamid Drake: tabla, frame drum, gongs, drums