Search - Evan Parker :: Conic Sections

Be ready for it!

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 04/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I consider CONIC SECTIONS to be one of the most demanding and rewarding cd's in my collection. Quite honestly, I can only listen to it in my most aware listening states. If I am not perfectly in tune and attentive then I am incapable of reaping this cd's rewards. I guess if you want you could just listen to this as some sort of background music, but if you do then you aren't actually hearing what Evan is doing.This is the most advanced solo soprano saxophone cd that Evan has made. In other words, it's the most advanced solo saxophone music ever. That is not hyperbole in the least. Evan created a whole new language for the saxophone and even now the only people who can almost touch him are the Post-Parker people whom he inspired and influenced. Mats Gustafsson being the creative pinnacle of Post-Parker saxophonists (Check out Mats' EDUCATION OF LARS JERRY while you are at it, fantastic solo saxophone cd). Half-listening to this cd will not reveal to the listener the fact that Evan is playing three and four seperate melodic lines simultaneously (with no overdubbing whatsoever). These seperate melodies actually are harder to distinguish in this cd because now Evan's playing is so heightened and everything happens so fast that sometimes the seperate melodies are masked if you aren't thoroughly listening. "Fast" is a bad word though, because overall the music doesn't come across as fast, even though for Evan to swirl all these seperate lines together simultaneously he has to quickly manipulate the horn.Purchase this cd at the same time as you purchase Evans MONOCEROS cd. These two together really display Evan's music. Plus, MONOCEROS is probably easier for the "uninitiated" to grasp because the seperate melodies don't move so quickly so your ears will be able to acclimate easier so you can truly hear what it is that Evan is doing."

Whirling Labyrinths of Sound

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 12/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc is the most recent documentation of Parker's solo soprano saxophone performances. His phenomenal technical skill is on abundant display here (indeed, Parker has absolutely no peers on his instrument from this standpoint). Each of the five "Conic Sections" is an unbroken stream of furiously rapid polyphonic variations on often quite simple materials (as in the 3-note melody of the fifth "Section"). Thus despite the formidable nature of the music it can also be oddly beguiling, even soothing--I remember once playing a track of it on a radio show & getting intrigued phonecalls from listeners who'd never come across Parker before. The album's a beauty, & an excellent place to start if you're curious about Parker's solo work (rather than, e.g. the early _Saxophone Solos_, which is rebarbative in the extreme)."

Snake charmer

esho2 | United States | 05/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...Conic Sections, recorded in 1989, is not the most recent documentation of solo Evan Parker. For example, there's Process and Reality (FMP, recorded 1991), Chicago Solo (Okka, recorded 1995), and several individual tracks on various compilations (e.g. "Sonf" from The Saxophone Phenomenon, 1992) and concert recordings (e.g. "no. 112" from Three Concerts per a A.T., 1997). ...however, ...Conic Sections is great solo Parker, and you should probably buy it just for the third track alone."