The Snake Decides

The Snake Decides
Studio album by Evan Parker
Released	May 1988
Recorded	30 January 1986
Genre	Jazz
Label	Incus Records
Evan Parker chronology
Atlanta (1986) The Snake Decides (1988) Conic Sections (1989)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

The Snake Decides is an album by British jazz saxophonist Evan Parker. It was released in 1988 on Parker and Derek Bailey's Incus Records label, and re-released on the psi label in 2003. It is currently out of print.

The album features four unaccompanied saxophone solos, recorded by sound engineer Michael Gerzon in St Paul's Church, Oxford, in 1986. The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album one of its rare crown accolades, in addition to featuring it as part of its Core Collection. It declares the album to be equally a great recording as a record, and "an essential document of modern music".^[2]

The wood cut reproduced on the cover is by George Murphy.^[3]

Track listing

All compositions by Evan Parker

1. "The Snake Decides" – 19:56
2. "Leipzig Folly" – 11:42
3. "Buriden's Ass" – 6:29
4. "Haine's Last Tape" – 6:01

Personnel

• Evan Parker – soprano saxophone

References

1. The Snake Decides at AllMusic
2. Cook, Richard & Morton, Brian (2008) The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.), Penguin, p. 1121.
3. "psi 03.06 The snake decides" European Free Improvisation Pages.