AARON PARKS TRIO

“An expressive and insightful pianist, [Aaron Parks] has spent more than half his life in one or another sort of spotlight, and while he favors a spirit of expedition, he isn’t an obscurantist. His music seeks communion, often delving deep into familiar song form.

“Iverson avoids technical excess; his improvisations unfold sparely in his right hand, usually with very little or no emphasis on his left hand. He plays deliberately, nurturing his ideas sometimes in unhurried quarter notes or eighth notes...Iverson stretches tonality through single lines, which grow more adventurous the longer they unfold.

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The composer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey, a Newark native...is among the most formidable denizens of the in-between zone...Here is an extraordinary talent who can see across the entire musical landscape.

“Composer and saxophonist John Zorn is the creator and curator of a specific yet far-reaching strain of the musical avant-garde...He transcended comparisons to other improvising musicians long ago: Far better to draw lines from the quintessential Downtowner to, say, filmmakers Robert Altman and John Cassavetes, in his repeated use of a trusted, versatile troupe of his design. Or to Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann, for his laughably prolific output. Or to any number of artists who’ve expanded the parameters and function of ethnic tradition.

“He radiates such facility and generosity from behind that piano. With his eloquence flooding our ears, we were suddenly invited to listen for a private friction in his brain...We’ll never be able to hear those firing synapses, only the decisions that they create. That’s fine. That’s music. Instead of settling into the center of his expanding soundworld, Moran decides to keep moving. We can learn something about who he is by where he decides to go, how he decides to get there, and what he decides to do once he arrives