“Music is Defined as Anything that is Beautiful, and What Makes Something Beautiful is Music”

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews William Parker; bassist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, performer, and music educator.

Topics discussed:

His beginnings as a musician and what led him to free jazz, his work with Cecil Taylor, Roy Campbell, Hamid Drake, Jimmy Garrison, and many others, his work and long association with Arts for Art (AFA), the Vision Festival, the Other Dimensions in Music Cooperative, AFA’s kinship with other musician’s organizations, his thoughts on hip hop, social media, and modern music technology, racism in America, the spiritual essence of music (especially free / improvised music), the future of free jazz, and his experience, thoughts, and advice about the political and economic climate of the the music business.

Music on this episode:

“Give Me Back My Drum”
“It’s A Great Day to Be Dead”
“Canyons of Light”

All Music by William Parker