Aaron Parks
Aaron Parks (born October 7, 1983) is an American jazz pianist.
Aaron Parks | |
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Aaron Parks plays a duo concert with Adam Baldych in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2014. | |
Background information | |
Born | Seattle, Washington, U.S. | October 7, 1983
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Piano |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | Blue Note, Nonesuch, ECM |
Associated acts | Terence Blanchard, James Farm |
Website | aaronparks |
Career
A native of Seattle, Parks studied at the University of Washington at the age of 14[1] through the Transition School and Early Entrance Program as a double major in computer science and music. At 15 he was selected to participate in the Grammy High School Jazz Ensembles which inspired him to move to New York City and transfer to the Manhattan School of Music. At Manhattan one of his teachers was Kenny Barron.[1] During his final year he began touring with Terence Blanchard's band, recording three albums with him for Blue Note, including the Grammy-winning A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina).[1][2] Parks can be heard on the soundtracks to Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Spike Lee films Inside Man, She Hate Me, and When the Levees Broke.
He is a member of the band James Farm with saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland.[1][3] He has toured with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.[1][4]
Awards and honors
- 2001: Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association[1]
- Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition (Third Place)
- Jas Hennessy Piano Solo Competition at Montreux (Third Place)
- 2016: DownBeat magazine: “25 for the Future”[5]
Discography
As leader
As co-leader
- 2011 James Farm, James Farm
- 2014 City Folk, James Farm
- 2015 Misfit with Elif Çaglar, Eric Harland, Harish Raghavan
- 2016 Groovements with Karsten Bagge, Thomas Fonnesbæk
As sideman
With Terence Blanchard
- 2003 Bounce
- 2005 Flow
- 2007 A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)[8]
With Mike Moreno
- Between the Lines (2007)
- First in Mind (2011)
- Lotus (2015)[9]
With Christian Scott
- 2007 Anthem
- 2008 Live at Newport
With Dayna Stephens
- 2012 Today Is Tomorrow
- 2015 Reminiscent[8]
With others
- 2005 Higher Ground, Wynton Marsalis
- 2006 Inside Man
- 2006 Casually Introducing Walter Smith III, Walter Smith III
- 2006 The Source, Kendrick Scott
- 2007 Night Songs, Ferenc Nemeth
- 2008 Prelude... to Cora, Ambrose Akinmusire
- 2009 Angelica, Francesco Cafiso
- 2009 In a Dream, Gretchen Parlato
- 2011 Dreams Come True, CANT
- 2012 Star of Jupiter, Kurt Rosenwinkel
- 2012 Secret Love, Sara Leib
- 2013 Foolhardy, Lage Lund
- 2013 Live Today, Derrick Hodge
- 2013 Lua Ya, Yeahwon Shin
- 2013 North Hero, Chris Morrissey
- 2013 Somewhere in Between, Bob Reynolds
- 2014 Golden Age, Nir Felder
- 2016 Diwan of Beauty and Odd, Dhafer Youssef
- 2016 Seemed Like a Good Idea, Petra Haden, Jesse Harris[8]
- 2018 The Seasons, Ben Wendel
References
- Collar, Matt. "Aaron Parks". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- GRAMMY.com Archived 2007-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
- "James Farm". Nonesuch. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
- "Aaron Parks". Blue Note. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
- Panken, Ted (July 2016). "25 for the Future / Aaron Parks". DownBeat. Vol. 83 no. 7. Chicago. p. 36. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
- "Aaron Parks | Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- "Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man | Aaron Parks". Aaronparksmusic.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
- "Aaron Parks | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- "Mike Moreno - Lotus (2015, CD)". Discogs.com. 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2020-05-09.