Universal Tonality

Since ascending onto the world stage in the 1990s as one of the premier bassists and composers of his generation, William Parker has perpetually toured around the world and released over forty albums as a leader. He is one of the most influential jazz artists alive today. In Universal Tonality historian and critic Cisco Bradley tells the story of Parker's life and music. Drawing on interviews with Parker and his collaborators, Bradley traces Parker's ancestral roots in West Africa via the Carolinas to his childhood in the South Bronx, and illustrates his rise from the 1970s jazz lofts and extended work with pianist Cecil Taylor to the present day. He outlines how Parker's early influences--Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and writers of the Black Arts Movement--grounded Parker's aesthetic and musical practice in a commitment to community and the struggle for justice and freedom. Throughout, Bradley foregrounds Parker's understanding of music, the role of the artist, and the relationship between art, politics, and social transformation. Intimate and capacious, Universal Tonality is the definitive work on Parker's life and music.
Jazz critic and historian Cisco Bradley tells the story of the life and music of bassist and composer William Parker, who for fifty years has been a monumental figure in free jazz.
"A timely and dynamic picture of the great artist's travels, to date. Bradley's book charts a past that also provides many clues and contextual narratives that tell us much about where Parker may be heading."--Lee Rice Epstein "Free Jazz Collective" (1/31/2021 12:00:00 AM)
"Parker's art and family history get explored at length in Cisco Bradley's illuminating new critical study Universal Tonality, the first William Parker book that William Parker didn't have to write himself. Parker appreciates the attention--he called it the story of how he rose 'from rags to enlightenment. Note that I didn't say riches'--but still encourages musicians to tell their own stories, and not just because critics can be slow to catch up."--Alan Scherstuhl "New York Times" (2/8/2021 12:00:00 AM)
"As with the best of jazz biographies, there are excellent descriptions of the music to be found on the key albums of Parker's various groups. And these vivid words send the curious listener scurrying off to hear the music. . . . The biography is an excellent introduction to William Parker's music and to his role in the free jazz community in New York and the USA."--Tony Dudley-Evans "London Jazz News" (1/28/2021 12:00:00 AM)
"Cisco Bradley endeavors to pull the diverse parts of the artist's life together in this first ever biography of Parker. It is a monumental task, and like the dozens of biographies of Louis Armstrong that have been published, it is a good start."--Mark Corroto "All About Jazz" (1/15/2021 12:00:00 AM)
"Each of [Parker's] own major projects, including the quartet, Raining On The Moon, Little Huey, and In Order To Survive, is discussed and analyzed in depth; his family history and personal life are documented in detail; and ultimately as full a portrait as possible of William Parker, artist and human being, is painted. Essential reading."--Phil Freeman "Stereogum" (1/20/2021 12:00:00 AM)
"This is long overdue respect and praise for one of the finest and hardest working musicians of the post-war era. William Parker is a national treasure, as this book is a testament to his perseverance."--Tim Niland "Music and More" (1/17/2021 12:00:00 AM)
"We have precious few monographic works on creative musicians, fewer still on living ones, and none quite like Cisco Bradley's fascinating biography of bassist, bandleader, organizer, and composer William Parker. Bradley situates Parker as part of a historical legacy, skillfully illuminating Parker's career--including his crucial term with Cecil Taylor--as well as the entire underground scene, including the groundbreaking Sound Unity Festival, the enduring Vision Festival, and manifold developments in the New York creative music community. An essential entry in the critical culture reading list."--John Corbett, author of "Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium"
"Writing elegantly about the music as well as William Parker's work as an activist and organizer, Cisco Bradley gives a full sense of Parker's centrality to the development and maintenance of the free jazz scene in New York as well as his efforts in presenting the music across the globe. Universal Tonality is a book worthy of its object."--Fred Moten, author of "Black and Blur"