Aaron Parks

Aaron Parks
Background information
Born	October 7, 1983
Origin	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Piano
Labels	Blue Note Records
Associated acts	James Farm, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Terence Blanchard, Mike Moreno

Aaron Parks (2014)
Playing duo concert with Adam Baldych
in Aarhus, Denmark
Photo Hreinn Gudlaugsson

Aaron Parks (born October 7, 1983, in Seattle, Washington) is a jazz pianist.^[1]

Personal

Parks studied at the University of Washington at the age of 14 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. During his final year he began touring with Terence Blanchard's band, recording three albums with him for Blue Note Records, including the Grammy-winning A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina).^[2] Parks has also toured with Kurt Rosenwinkel and has recorded for Blue Note Records.^[3] He is a member of James Farm, a quartet featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland.^[4]

Parks can be heard on the soundtracks to Their Eyes Were Watching God and Spike Lee films including Inside Man, She Hate Me, and When the Levees Broke.

He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Awards

• Jas Hennessy Piano Solo Competition at Montreux (Third Place)
• Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association (First Place)
• Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition (Third Place)

Discography

As leader

• The Promise (1999)
• First Romance (2000)
• The Wizard (2001)
• Shadows (2002)
• Invisible Cinema (2008, Blue Note Records)
• Alive in Japan (2013)
• Arborescence (2013, ECM)

As sideman

• Bounce (2003) - Terence Blanchard
• Flow (2005) - Terence Blanchard
• On My Way Back Home (2005) - Daisuke Abe
• Short Songs (EP) (2006) - Amanda Baisinger
• Casually Introducing Walter Smith III (2006) - Walter Smith III
• Lucid Dream (2006) - Patrick Cornelius
• A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (2007) - Terence Blanchard
• Night Songs (2007) - Ferenc Nemeth
• Between the Lines (2007) - Mike Moreno
• The Source (2007) - Kendrick Scott
• Anthem (2007) - Christian Scott
• Catch of the Day (2008) - Matt Penman
• Prelude ... to: Cora (2008) - Ambrose Akinmusire
• Promises (2008) - Will Vinson
• Triptych (2008) - Justin Vasquez
• Dear Someone"' (2009) - Anders Christensen
• In A Dream (2009) - Gretchen Parlato
• First In Mind (2011) - Mike Moreno
• Dreams Come True (2011) - CANT
• Unison (2012) - Maria Neckam
• Star of Jupiter (2012) - Kurt Rosenwinkel^[5]
• Lua ya (ECM, 2013) - Yeahwon Shin
• Foolhardy (2013) - Lage Lund^[6]

Collaborations

• James Farm (2011) - with Joshua Redman, Matt Penman, Eric Harland
• City Folk (2014) - with Joshua Redman, Matt Penman, Eric Harland

References

1. Collar Matt. "Biography: Aaron Parks". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
2. GRAMMY.com
3. "Aaron Parks". Blue Note. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
4. "James Farm". Nonesuch. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
5. http://www.kurtrosenwinkel.com/archives/2762
6. http://www.crisscrossjazz.com/album/1360.html

External links

• http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=71196347 - 147k -
• http://bluenote.com/MainNewsDetail.aspx?newsId=11271&promoId=690 - 147k -
• Aaron Parks at NPR Music