Improvisations Now – William Parker / Joe Morris

William Parker: Bass, Flute, N’goni, and Guimbre

William Parker is a bassist, improviser, composer, writer, and educator from New York City. He has recorded over 150 albums, published six books, and taught and mentored hundreds of young musicians and artists.

He has been called “one of the most inventive bassists/leaders since [Charles] Mingus,” and “the creative heir to Jimmy Garrison and Paul Chambers…directly influenced by ‘60s avant-gardists like Sirone, Henry Grimes and Alan Silva.” The Village Voice called him, “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time” and Time Out New York named him one of the “50 Greatest New York Musicians of All Time.”

Parker’s current active bands include the large-band Little Huey Creative Orchestra, the Raining on the Moon Sextet, the In Order to Survive Quartet, Stan’s Hat Flapping in the Wind, the Cosmic Mountain Quintet with Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, and Cooper-Moore, as well as a deep and ongoing solo bass study. His recordings have long been documented by the AUM Fidelity record label and on his own Centering Records, among others. He also has a duo project “Hope Cries For Justice” with Patricia Nicholson Parker which combines music, story telling, poetry and dance

He has been a key figure in the New York and European creative music scenes since the 1970s, and has worked all over the world. He has performed with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Peter Brotzmann, Milford Graves, Peter Kowald, and David S. Ware, among many others. To learn more about William Parker, please visit his website.

Joe Morris: Guitar, Banjouke, Banjo, Bass

Joe Morris is a composer/improviser multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, double bass, mandolin, banjo, banjouke, electric bass and drums. He is considered to be “one of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S.” – WIRE Magazine

Morris has performed and/or recorded with many of the most important contemporary artists in improvised music including Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Ken Vandermark, Tomeka Reid, Fay Victor, Tim Berne, William Parker, Sylvie Courvoisier, Peter Evans, David S. Ware, Joe Maneri, Dewey Redman, Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Marshall Allen, Barre Phillips, Barry Guy, Matthew Shipp, Gerald Cleaver, and many others. He has been curating Improvisations Now at Real Art Ways for many years. To learn more about Joe Morris, please visit his website.

“The preeminent free music guitarist of his generation.” – Downbeat

“The guitar revolutionary to pay attention to.” – The Boston Phoenix

Improvisations Now is a monthly series of concerts programmed by Joe Morris. Joe invites a diverse group of dynamic, innovative musicians, all important members of the global improvised music scene, and performs with them. The music is completely improvised. Every concert is different. Funded by Lisa and Jerome Deupree.

GENERAL ADMISSION: $15
RAW MEMBERS: $12
FULL TIME STUDENTS: $5