William Hooker (musician)

William Hooker (born June 18, 1946) is an American drummer and composer.

Early life

Hooker was born in New Britain, Connecticut, on June 18, 1946.[1] He began to play the drums at the age of 12.[1] In high school, he played in a rock band, then switched to jazz.[1] After graduating from Central Connecticut College, Hooker moved to California and became interested in free jazz.[1]

Later life and career

Hooker moved to New York in the mid-1970s and was part of the loft scene, playing with musicians such as saxophonists David Murray and David S. Ware.[1] His first recording as a leader was in 1976.[1] His music was too radical to be commercially successful, and Hooker took other jobs to earn a living.[1] This changed after he received praise for a 1988 recording, and he made frequent appearances at the Knitting Factory from early the following decade.[1] Hooker was a founding member of the Text of Light, a musician's collective that released seven albums between 2004 and 2010.[2]

Hooker has led several bands, including a drums–trumpet–saxophone trio and an organ trio.[1] They usually do not feature a bass, "because of the intensity and volume of his drumming".[1] He has also been the drummer in duos with guitarists, including Elliott Sharp and Thurston Moore.[1] Hooker's playing and recordings have embraced a wide range and combination of musics, including free jazz, noise rock, electronics, contemporary classical, and experimental electronic.[2]

The Down Beat reviewer of Hooker's Symphonie Of Flowers album wrote "Hooker uses history to enliven a suite of music that bounds through subgenres and percussive ideas".[3]

Playing style

"He is an elemental drummer of considerable force, equally at home in free-form jazz and avant-garde rock circles; he also experiments with electronics and turntables".[1]

Discography

  • ...Is Eternal Life (1982)
  • Brighter Lights (1986)
  • Lifeline (1988)
  • The Firmament Fury (1989)
  • Shamballa: Duets with Thurston Moore and Elliott Sharp (1993)
  • Envisioning (1994)
  • Joy (Within)! (1994)
  • Radiation (1994)
  • Armageddon (1995)
  • Gift of Tongues (1995)
  • Heat of the Light (Dream Sequences) (1996)
  • Tibet (1996)
  • Mindfulness (1997)
  • The Distance Between Us (1999)
  • Bouquet: Live at the Knitting Factory 4.23.99 (2000)
  • Black Mask (2002)
  • Out Trios, Vol. 1: Monsoon (2003)
  • Yearn for Certainty - Trios with Sabir Mateen and Dave Soldier (2010)
  • Heart of the Sun - Trios with Roy Campbell and Dave Soldier (2013)
  • Red - William Hooker Quartet featuring Matt Lavell, Mark Hennen, Larry Roland and William Hooker (Atypeek Music 2015)
  • Aria - featuring Dave Soldier, On Davis, Mark Hennan, Richard Keene, and Louie Belogenis (Multatta Records 2016)
  • Pillars ... at the Portal (Multatta Records 2018)
  • Symphonie of Flowers (ORG Music) (2019)
gollark: It's somewhat cool? On actual DTel, you can dial random people if you're bored, although this one has no "phone book" feature.
gollark: It's called "DTel", and the main difference is that *it's* actually widely used, aims for realism more than mine, uses actual phone *numbers* instead of word sequences, doesn't use the webhook thing, and has a currency system.
gollark: Well, I took the entire idea from a Discord bot doing almost the same thing, but somewhat differently.
gollark: Anyway, so currently the calls thing is only on the test instance, but I'll upgrade the main one after further testing™ so all 11 participating servers can enjoy it.
gollark: What does *it* do? Can I add it to my server with ~60 bots?

References

  1. Adams, Simon (2003), Hooker, William, Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, retrieved March 30, 2020
  2. Bush, Nathan. "William Hooker". AllMusic. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  3. Cantor, Dave (December 2019). "William Hooker: Symphonie of Flowers". Down Beat. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.