Asha Parkinson

“Possession”

(Ubuntu Music UBU0181)

Asha Parkinson – alto, soprano & tenor saxophones, compositions, bandleader
Rebecka Edlund – vocals
Meera Maharaj- flute
Simeon May – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Christie Smith – trumpet
Konstantinos Glynos – qanun
Abbie Davis, Chloe Mead – violins
Andrew Lidell – viola
Cubby Howard – cello
Charlie Hayward – guitar
Alex Wilson – piano
Hamish Nockles-Moore – bass
Alex Taylor – drums

with guest Gareth Lockrane – flute, alto flute

I first encountered the music of saxophonist and composer Asha Parkinson at the 2019 EFG London Jazz Festival when she appeared as part of the Jazz Newblood showcase at the Iklectik venue (aka Waterloo Creative Studio).

This performance saw Parkinson leading a quintet featuring Tim Lallement on piano, Joao Menezes on guitar, Harry Pearce on electric bass and Joe Parks on cajon and percussion. This was a highly enjoyable set that also revealed Parkinson to be a highly accomplished vocalist. My account of that performance can be found as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/efg-london-jazz-festival-2019-day-ten-sunday-24th-november-2019

The quintet was essentially a scaled down version of the twelve piece Kalpadruma, a collective founded by Parkinson in 2017 “to explore connections between Arabic, Turkish, Indian, Contemporary Classical and Jazz musics”

Parkinson studied at the Purcell School of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, graduating with first class honours. Something of a musical prodigy she has been performing in public and leading her own bands since her early teens and has been a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She has twice been a semi-finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year competition.

A prolific composer Parkinson has written for orchestras and choirs as well as for jazz ensembles and her writing also embraces elements of so called ‘world music’, including  Arabic maqam, flamenco, compas and Indian tala. She spent time studying on an exchange visit in Spain and that 2019 Iklektik performance saw her singing convincingly in Spanish. 

In 2021 she was one of four composers selected for the Jazz South Breakthrough Commissions  scheme, working on  a small-scale collaboration with members of the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians to create an extended cross-genre work that was digitally broadcast from the Colyer-Fergusson Concert Hall Canterbury (a major venue in the Jazz South Region). 

Parkinson has also written for the South Asian Youth Orchestra, the Ligeti Quartet and has featured as both player and composer with  Issie Barratt’s all female jazz ensemble Interchange.

In May 2024 I enjoyed seeing Parkinson performing on tenor saxophone at Cheltenham Jazz Festival when she was part of a twelve piece ensemble of leading improvisers brought together by director Sam Eastmond to perform his arrangements of a number of pieces by John Zorn from the latter’s “Bagatelles” series of compositional sketches. Although occasionally somewhat challenging this was a hugely enjoyable gig that represented one of my personal Festival highlights. I was also able to speak with Asha and other members of the ensemble afterwards. My review of the performance can be found as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/sunday-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival-05-05-2024

In 2017 the still teenage Parkinson founded the Voices Beyond Divisions charity, a multi-cultural project that she describes as; “bringing young people from all faiths and none together to sing and make music to promote peace and mutual understanding”. It’s a mission that also informs the music of Kalpadruma.

In 2022 Parkinson self released her debut album “Onwards”, recorded with members of the Kalpadruma Collective. Her album liner notes explained the meanings behind the ensemble’s nomenclature;
“Kalpadruma is the wish-fulfilling, divine tree of life in Indian origin religions and mythologies, a source of pure inspiration. 

She has also described the ensemble’s aims as;
“Seeking an authentic musical meeting point between our different sonic and cultural backgrounds”.

My review of “Onwards”, from which much of the above biographical material has been sourced, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/asha-parkinsons-kalpadruma-onwards

Parkinson’s latest work for Kalpadruma sees her moving to the increasingly influential Ubuntu record label. “Possession” features a fourteen piece version of the Kalpadruma ensemble and also includes contributions from guest flautist Gareth Lockrane.

For the purposes of this recording Kalpadruma has been described as “a fourteen piece mini studio orchestra bringing together a jazz quintet, string quartet, woodwind, voice and the distinctive sound of the qanun, in addition to Parkinson’s own sax playing”. The qanun, played by Konstantinos Glynos is  a zither like stringed instrument found in much of the Middle East, North Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, Armenia, and Greece and which has its origins in the old Assyrian Empire.

The music to be heard on “Possession” has been described as;
“Stylistically blurring the boundaries between jazz, contemporary classical, flamenco, Mediterranean and Arab musics”.

The album is semi-conceptual and explores themes of possessive love with Parkinson’s own lyrics augmented by the words of the Persian poet Rumi and the Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. There is also a setting of the words of “The Lord’s Prayer” in the original Aramaic. Parkinson also acknowledges the influence of such literary figures as Leo Tolstoy and Aldous Huxley.

The album commences with the all instrumental piece “Urban Fantasy”, a composition designed to reflect the both the energy and the cosmopolitan nature of city living. The energy is reflected in the urgent, bustling melody lines and their accompanying rhythms. Diversity is reflected in the instrumentation, which includes strings and flute in addition to more conventional jazz instruments. The performance includes brief solos from the leader on saxophone, Wilson on piano and Heywood on guitar but primarily it’s an invigorating ensemble piece that wears its complexities lightly.

The first vocal item is “Distant Devotion”, Parkinson’s adaptation of a Rumi poem sung by Rebecka Edlund, a young Swedish born vocalist who is based in London following her studies at Trinity Laban. Edlund made a big impression on me when she appeared with drummer / composer Corrie Dick’s Sun Swells Sextet at a Music Spoken Here performance at the Marr’s Bar in Worcester in November 2023. Edlund is blessed with a stunningly pure voice but still brings considerable emotion to a lyric that addresses the subject of love from a distance. The words, jointly written by Rumi and Parkinson possess the beauty and economy of a Japanese haiku. Again the instrumental arrangement fuses jazz and classical elements, with solo moments coming from Lockrane on flute and the leader on soprano sax.

Parkinson’s lyrics for the song “Mirror Image” are inspired by the Tolstoy novel “Anna Karenina” and her words reveal her to be a talented and evocative lyricist. The urgency of the arrangement reflects the inner turmoil of the song’s protagonist – Parkinson’s lyrics are written in the third person. Again the featured soloists include guest musician Lockrane and Parkinson herself, with the string players also featuring prominently as part of a characteristically cross genre arrangement.

Parkinson’s words for the title track are based on a Czechoslovakian folk tale but give the story a modern twist, with references to hacking and security codes. A story of obsessive love the piece evolves slowly, gradually gathering momentum. Edlund’s vocals are augmented by Parkinson’s subtly probing sax solo and the music becomes increasingly intense and dissonant as the obsession grows. This is an ultimately disturbing piece that has variously drawn comparisons with art song and with musical theatre.

Two instrumental pieces follow, beginning with “The Juggler”, a lively piece that exhibits similar musical characteristics to the opening “Urban Fantasy”. It is perhaps an apt title as Parkinson continues to keep a number of musical balls in the air as she continues to juggle the genres. Her busy compositional style is sometimes reminiscent of Django Bates’ writing for Loose Tubes and his own Delightful Precipice. The arrangement for “The Juggler” includes dancing flute from Meera Maharaj and incorporates a brief solo from pianist Alex Wilson.

Wilson’s piano also introduces “Maelstrom”, which turns out to be rather less frantic than its title might suggest. Parkinson is featured prominently on soprano saxophone in an arrangement that also features the sound of Glynos on qanun and which includes solos from bassist Hamish Nockalls-Moore and guitarist Charlie Heywood.

Edlund returns to sing “There”, another song featuring words written by Parkinson. Sensual and evocative lyrics are combined with an exotic but sensitive arrangement incorporating the sounds of qanun, strings and the composer’s own soprano sax, with Parkinson the featured instrumental soloist.

“Our Father (Avvon D’Bishmaiya)” is delivered by Edlund in the original Aramaic. It’s a beautiful vocal performance that treats the text with due reverence. The instrumental arrangement features qanun and strings plus the leader’s own soprano saxophone. The combination of saxophone and voice in a religious setting may remind some listeners of Jan Garbarek’s collaborations with the Hilliard Ensemble. The English translation in the album booklet is significantly different to the text of “The Lord’s Prayer” that many UK listeners may be familiar with.

The album concludes with “Permanent Verse”, Parkinson’s setting of words extracted from a speech by the Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and used with permission. Featuring what I assume to be the sampled voice of Gbowee the speech, which focusses on the positive deployment of righteous anger,  is set in a musical arrangement initially focussed around Nockalls-Moore’s bass. Following the conclusion of the spoken word passage an urgent instrumental arrangement opens up, now driven by Alex Taylor’s drums and incorporating powerful solos from Simeon May on baritone sax and Heywood on guitar. Flutes and strings are also incorporated into an exciting arrangement that also makes use of African elements.

“Possession” builds upon the success of the earlier “Onwards” and represents another ambitious cross-genre work from Parkinson. Once again she skilfully combines her many musical, literary and political influences to create a unique ensemble sound that feels unforced and genuinely organic, with her pool of musicians again fully buying into her vision. The way in which she integrates the ‘classical’ instruments (strings, flute) into the ensemble sound is particularly impressive.

It’s perhaps too diverse to be classed as a genuine jazz album and some jazz purists may be dismissive of Parkinson’s music. But there’s no denying her ambition and her breadth of vision. This is a young, politically aware artist who approaches her art from what is simultaneously a very British and a totally pan-cultural perspective, helping to create something unique. It would certainly be interesting to see this material performed live, which London audiences will get the chance to do on 27th September when the album is officially launched at the Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club in Kennington. Ticket link here;
https://toulouselautrec.co.uk/.../asha-parkinsons…/

For further information on Asha Parkinson and her music please visit;
http://www.ashaparkinsonmusic.co.uk
 

 

 

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