24 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Issa Bagayogo My brother Greg sent me this link and I thought I’d share it here. From Mali, Issa Bagayogo. Red Hot & Riot We were talking about Red Hot & Riot, one of my favorite recordings that features new … Continue reading
23 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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AGO I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario in the late summer and saw the Abstract Expressionist show. The most striking work for me were photographs. I was keen to see Mark Rothko again. I had seen his work … Continue reading
11 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Yo Yo Ma A truly inspiring musician, Yo Yo Ma has raised the bar of musicianship to include great musicians from outside the classical music world. The Goat Rodeo Sessions is another in an ever elongating line of reinvention collaborations. … Continue reading
10 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Free Jazz, 1960 In this album audiences get a chance to experience stereo like never before. Two quartets are featured, one on the left and the other on the right. Although cacophonous at times, not unlike multiple conversations in a … Continue reading
8 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Post War Jazz Fourteen years after the end of World War ll four highly influential jazz records were released. These albums represent the vision of four independent and strong willed men who are responsible for transforming jazz into an American … Continue reading
8 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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The Atomic Bomb Everything changed after the dropping of the atomic bombs that ended the second world war. We who were born after 1945 knew the world could come to an end at any moment. The way people thought before … Continue reading
3 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Jim Jarmusch I went through a Jim Jarmusch phase that lasted from Stranger Than Paradise (1984) until his film with Bill Murray, Broken Flowers (2005). At first it was the odd characters, situations, and deadpan comedy. Then it became their … Continue reading
2 November 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Fela Kuti Nigerian musical hero Fela Kuti was one of the main creators of Afrobeat, a new style of music in the 1970s. Afrobeat combines elements of high life, jazz, funk, and afrocuban music with the traditional Yoruba drumming of … Continue reading
28 October 2011
by Bill Parsons
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Timar/Parsons An upcoming performance I am doing with Andrew Timar is a part of the 416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival. Here is a sample of what we sound like. To hear us in a recent performance at Electric Eclectic … Continue reading
18 October 2011
by Bill Parsons
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FEDORA UPSIDE-DOWN is an urban folk movement started by a group of musicians living in Toronto. Hailing from cultural backgrounds in which music is a lifestyle, not a “scene,” they celebrate the city’s diversity and want to see it de-ghettoized. … Continue reading