Song Cycle by William Parker w/ Ellen Christi, Lisa Sokolov, Yuko Fujiyama

[BXH 017]

Ellen Christi: voice
William Parker: bass
(tracks 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 14)

Lisa Sokolov: voice
Yuko Fujiyama: piano
(tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15)

While he had been writing poetry from a very young age, and his gift of channeling beautiful melodies seems to have always been with him, this wonderful William Parker collection was the first recorded work which spotlighted his illuminated song-craft.

Comprised of two sessions he self-produced in the early '90s, the songs are presented as duets with his then already long-standing compatriots, the exceptionally gifted singers Lisa Sokolov & Ellen Christi. Pianist Yuko Fujiyama performs the songs with Sokolov, while Parker accompanies on bass with Christi.

This work was first published on CD in 2001 by the Boxholder label, and has long been unavailable. The full album work makes its "digital debut" exclusively here on Bandcamp in December 2022, and the CDs available are original Boxholder label edition from a box of same recently discovered in the basement storage area of William's East Village apartment.

In the meantime, half of these tracks were included as part of Album 2/CD 2 on the extraordinary 3CD Box Set 'Voices Fall From The Sky' released in 2018 and now out of print, but available here on Bandcamp (w/ accompanying, exceptionally extensive PDF): https://williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/voices-fall-from-the-sky

Tracklist

1.	Footnote To A Dream (for Miguel Pinero)	2:38

2.	Hunkpapa Song (for Tatanka Iyotanka)	4:06
3.	Baldwin's Interlude (for James Baldwin)	2:54

4.	Morning Moon (for everything that sings)	6:04
5.	For Julius Eastman	3:04

6.	Holiday For Flowers (for Akira Kurosawa)	3:44
7.	Life Song (for Thomas Merton)	4:18

8.	A Thought For Silence (for Sedako)	5:43
9.	Baldwin's Interlude II	2:03

10.	Aborigine Song (for Don Byas)	3:15

11.	Cloud and Sea Fading as Rain Falls (for Sarah Vaughan)	7:34
12.	Invisible Pages (for Howard Zinn)	5:38
13.	Aborigine Song II	2:05
14.	Falling Shadows (for Henry Grimes)	8:27

15.	Band In The Sky (for the horizon)	6:01

Credits

released January 1, 2001

All compositions (music & words) by William Parker, © Centering Music

Recorded October 10, 1991 and March 3, 1993
by Jon Rosenberg at Tedesco Studio, NJ
Edited and Mixed by James McLean in November 1995

Cover art by Miriam Parker in 1981
Design and layout by Katherine Lucas

Produced by William Parker

License