WORLDS PUT TOGETHER

by Matt Parker
BYNK #001

A Fort Lauderdale, Florida native, Matt Parker connects the stylistic dots between Lester Young and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He moved to New York City in 1999 where he has had the opportunity to work with musicians such as Junior Mance, Jane Ira Bloom, Reggie Workman, Charlie Persip and many others. He spent two years with Maynard Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau Band. Matt can be heard on the band's M.F. Horn VI: Live at Ronnie Scott's. His debut album "Worlds Put Together" includes a remarkable continent of players who are leaders in their own right, among them are pianist Jesse Elder, drummer Reggie Quinerly, saxophonist Julio Monterrey, guitarist Josh Mease, and bassist Alan Hampton. It’s a band that navigates Parker’s classic-cum-modern style exceptionally well. “A warmly swinging showcase for his breathy, Ben Webster-esque flow,” said Time Out New York. “It’s time to make the acquaintance of this rising star” effused Something Else Reviews. Downbeat Magazine named Worlds Put Together one of the best albums of 2014 saying “Parker is restlessly inventive…This promising debut makes him an album-maker to keep tabs on.”Downbeat Magazine named 'Worlds Put Together' as one of the Best Albums of 2014

Downbeat Magazine named 'Worlds Put Together' as one of the Best Albums of 2014

PRESS

**** "Something fresh is afoot on tenor saxophonist Matt Parker’s impressive debut, Worlds Put Together .… Restlessly inventive … This promising debut makes him an album-maker to keep tabs on."

—Josef Woodard, DownBeat

Album of the Year: "Even given the expanded definition of what is “real” jazz, Worlds Put Togetheroften comes right up to my imaginary fence that separates this music from the avant-garde. Parker’s big, scary, emotional tone sometimes conjures up the spirit of Albert Ayler. … But Parker is more like Ayler without creating the urge to reach for Excedrin; there’s joy and fun in everything he does. … Parker dutifully worships at the mantle of tradition (he sublimely covers “Darn That Dream”) but then turns it on its ear. … Or is that “knocks it on its ass”? Either way, it’s a joy ride from one corner of the idiom to the opposite one."

—S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews

"Crazily exuberant and undeniably soulful. … Some tracks go flying off the rails, but that just makes it more exciting. Just a very fun album. Find of the Week."

—Dave Sumner, Bird Is the Worm

"Parker succeeds admirably in demonstrating an abiding reverence for jazz’s heritage without being overly shackled by its conventions."

—Seton Hawkins, Hot House

"What makes Worlds Put Together an accomplished and brilliant release is its ingenuity and its inventiveness. Parker has arrived on the creative music scene a fully formed artist—one with his own unique voice and singular vision."

—Hrayr Attarian, All About Jazz

"A warmly swinging showcase for his breathy, Ben Webster-esque flow."

—Time Out New York

"Parker can’t be pigeonholed into just one tradition. … The saxophonist sounds comfortable promenading down multiple paths."

—Mark Corroto, All About Jazz

"Matt Parker may well be one of the most original and exciting tenor players to arrive on the scene in a decade. An inspiring performance!"

—Brent Black, Critical Jazz

Worlds Put Together Press Release

Matt Parker isn’t eccentric or reclusive—far from it, he’s super-friendly and down to earth—and his work isn’t primitive or obscure. But there’s still something of the outsider artist in the 34-year-old tenor saxophonist. A Fort Lauderdale native who is now part of Brooklyn’s inspired jazz scene, he is largely self-taught and self-directed. On his striking debut album, Worlds Put Together, he lives up to the title by connecting the stylistic dots between Lester Young and Rahsaan Roland Kirk—a magical feat considering he never listened to Kirk until people who heard the album brought up his name.

by Matt Parker
BYNK #002

Album Bio
Tenor and soprano saxophone virtuoso and visionary composer Matt Parker made a vivid impression with his 2013 debut recording, Worlds Put Together. “Restlessly inventive” (DownBeat), Parker is “a fully formed artist with his own unique voice [who] sounds comfortable promenading down multiple paths” (All About Jazz) The past, present, and future of jazz brilliantly coexist on Present Time. Matt now blows his horns in the spare company of just bass and drums-- played by longtime colleagues Alan Hampton and Reggie Quinerly, respectively-- and more than rises to the challenge of the jazz trio format The NYC based Parker is known for playing with Maynard Ferguson, HessIsMore, his own Matt Parker Trio and Worlds Put Together. Few saxophonists have internalized so much of the instrument’s history in jazz as has Parker. In his playing, one hears echoes of Ben Webster’s gentle and brutish sides, Lester Young’s lyricism, Sonny Rollins’ unfettered imagination, Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s adventurousness, and the types of extended techniques associated with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler.

Downbeat Magazine gives 'Present Time' ★★★★1/2 STARS

JAZZIZ Magazine Features Matt Parker and his new album 'Present Time' in their summer issue (Click to View Article)

Press

“Straightahead or on the edge, saxophonist Matt Parker welcomes listeners with warmth and wit.
- JAZZIZ Magazine

"Parker can do anything...he swings his ass off"
- Outside-Inside-Out

"Show me someone who says jazz is no fun to listen to and I’ll show them Matt Parker."
- Something Else

"Parker's playing can recall the gruff-yet-sensuous lines of Ben Webster"
- Hot House

“Tenor and soprano sax whiz Matt Parker celebrates his second album Present Time ”
- The Village Voice

"showcasing a chameleon-like style both hell-bent on defying jazz’ many sub-genres and putting his stamp on them all."
- New York Jazz Record

“Previously unrecorded until now, Charles Mingus’ Song To Keki makes its first appearance on this record. Opening with a casually swinging melody, the tune builds momentum until Parker’s tenor seems like it will come apart in his hands.”
- Ottawa Citizen

Present Time Press Release

The past, present, and future of jazz brilliantly coexist on Present Time, the second album by tenor and soprano saxophone virtuoso and visionary composer Matt Parker. A follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 debut, Worlds Put Together, the present disc consists of seven Parker originals, one old standard, and a previously unrecorded tune by the late, great Charles Mingus. And whereas Worlds Put Together found the leader surrounded most of the time by bass, drums, piano, guitar, and alto saxophone, he now blows his horns in the spare company of just bass and drums—played by Alan Hampton and Reggie Quinerly, respectively—with vocalist Emily Braden added on three tracks and Jerome Jennings shaking a tambourine on another.

Few saxophonists have internalized so much of the instrument’s history in jazz as has Parker. In his playing, one hears echoes of Ben Webster’s gentle and brutish sides, Lester Young’s lyricism, Sonny Rollins’s unfettered imagination, Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s adventurousness, and the types of extended techniques associated with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler.

by Reggie Watkins
BYNK #003

Album Bio
Trombonist Reggie Watkins delivers a deeply personal tribute to Jimmy Knepper on his third CD. Avid Admirer was first set in motion by his mother Liz's friendship at church in Wheeling, circa 2013, with a woman who was the widow of Jimmy Knepper. After Maxine Knepper passed the following year, Jimmy's daughter Robin Knepper Mahonen donated her father's collection of musical instruments to Watkins. "Dad made me promise that his horns would go to a musician," Mahonen writes in the CD liner notes. "Reggie Watkins is the man that will take up these horns and give them a voice again."

WITH SUPPORT FROM
MATT PARKER, TENOR SAXOPHONIST/CO-PRODUCER
PIANISTS ORRIN EVANS & TUOMO UUSITALO
BASSIST STEVE WHIPPLE &
DRUMMER REGGIE QUINERLY

Downbeat Magazine chooses 'Avid Admirer' for their July '16 EDITORS’ PICKS

Avid Admirer Press Release

Trombonist Reggie Watkins had the opportunity to meet trombone master Jimmy Knepper just once, shortly before Knepper’s death in June 2003. Watkins was performing in his native Wheeling, WV with Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau Band, and Knepper, himself a Ferguson alumnus, was in the audience. The older musician complimented Watkins after the concert and shook his hand.

Little did Watkins realize that a series of remarkable circumstances ten years later would lead him to record an album of Knepper compositions, played on the late musician’s Bach Stradivarius 36 trombone. The CD in question, Avid Admirer: The Jimmy Knepper Project, will be released on Matt Parker’s BYNK Records on July 13.