Aaron Parks profile picture

Aaron Parks

I really need to put some new tracks up on here...

About Me

24-year old pianist/composer Aaron Parks was raised in Seattle, WA. He began playing piano at age 10, learning mostly by ear, and was immediately attracted to improvised music. He first came on the radar screen when at 14 years old, he skipped high school and started the University of Washington as part of the Early Entrance Program. At first, he intended to triple-major in math, computer science, and music, but soon realized that he wanted to follow his passion for music fully.So at age 16, with the encouragement of jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen, Aaron transferred to the Manhattan School of Music in New York, leaving behind his promising academic future for a dicey shot at the jazz life. He began to study with piano great Kenny Barron, who recalled: “I was knocked out by Mr. Parks' command of the piano but more importantly, by his maturity, his wealth of ideas, his touch, and by the fact that at such a young age, he seemed to understand that silence and space were integral components of the music.”A little over a year after moving to New York, Aaron won first place in the 5th American Jazz Piano Competition and was named the 2001 Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association. Shortly thereafter, he was asked to perform on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz.” And just after his 18th birthday, he was called upon by the brilliant trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard and invited to join his group, a collective that Herbie Hancock calls "one of the most exciting working bands in jazz today."Aaron Parks has also performed and/or recorded with a number of today’s most forward-thinking musicians, including Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Ellis, Gretchen Parlato, Stefon Harris, Will Vinson, Lionel Loueke, Miguel Zenon, Mike Moreno, Eric Harland, Matt Penman, Ben Street, Lizz Wright, Lage Lund, Kendrick Scott, John Patitucci, Mark Turner, and many more.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/15/2006
Band Members: On the album:Mike Moreno - guitar; Matt Penman - bass; Eric Harland - drums; Me - piano, mellotron, keyboards, glockenspiel, and a couple moans/groans...
Influences: The music I make is influenced by almost everything I've ever listened to, but probably most directly by these artists and groups: Danilo Perez, Talk Talk, Blonde Redhead, Bela Bartok, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Bill Frisell, Aphex Twin, Miles Davis, Vincicius Cantuaria, Busta Rhymes, Sigur Ros, Brad Mehldau, Claude Debussy, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Sufjan Stevens, Terence Blanchard, Arvo Part, Elliott Smith, Lennie Tristano, Caetano Veloso, Tomasz Stanko, Toru Takemitsu, Radiohead, Keith Jarrett, Milton Nascimento, Robert Wyatt, Booker Little, The Roots, Wayne Shorter...
Sounds Like: Dinner music for thanksgiving with the cheat commandos
Record Label: Blue Note
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

The Pattern Improves

"When love itself comes to kiss you,don't hold back! When the kinggoes hunting, the forest smiles.Now the king has become the placeand all the players, prey, bystander,bow, arrow, hand and release. Ho...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Tue, 06 May 2008 02:33:00 PST

Jazz Gallery 4/26/08

Hello my friends and fiends,I've got a gig (hooray!) coming up this Saturday eveningtime. We'll be playing music! It'll be jolly fun!I don't know if I've ever played a gig of my own with this exact...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:55:00 PST

And also this...

"Authenticity is fundamental, more fundamental than spiritual enlightenment. Without authenticity, no genuine spiritual enlightenment is possible. Authenticity is the state of being committed to tru...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:18:00 PST

A Decision (Transformation)

I have decided upon conscious evolution. A refocusing.A new unbreakable pact with growth.And no one can do it for me. (Except myself)...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:56:00 PST

Relationships with the Unknown

So I just got back home from the Kurt Rosenwinkel Group’s spring ’08 European mini-tour. And what a tremendous week it was! We played gigs in France, Italy, Sweden, and Denmark (at the J...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:04:00 PST

Stockholm Grocery Shopping

The carrots are pretty good at the supermarkets in Stockholm, but they’re really expensive. It’s a shame, cause the city is really beautiful (even poetic) otherwise. Hard to find the poe...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:21:00 PST

Invisible Cinema

Well, it's almost ready. For those of you who don't know, for the last couple months I've been completely immersed (verging on anti-social) in the process of making my first album for Blue Note Recor...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:21:00 PST

Archetypes: Character Studies in Sound

Hello ladies and gentlemen,Well, this is a first; I've never written an actual blog before. But I figured it would be good to do something new like this (reaching out to the world, putting my words o...
Posted by Aaron Parks on Sun, 14 Oct 2007 08:12:00 PST