silent solos – improvisers speak presents the creative expressions of 50 accomplished and internationally known avant-garde jazz musicians. Within, are spiritual expressions, sensuous encounters, homage to and remembrance of past heroes, homespun homilies, and pithy manifestos from several of our most creative artists sharing a common characteristic: dedication to their craft.

silent solos features the written artistry of: David Amram, Harrison Bankhead, Lewis Barnes, David Budbill, Katie Bull, Chris Chalfant, Jay Clayton, Leena Conquest, Cooper-Moore, Jayne Cortez, Connie Crothers, Marc Edwards, Bruce Eisenbeil, Avram Fefer, Floros Floridis, Joel Futterman, Charles Gayle, Alan Bernard Glover, Doug Hammond, Gunter Hampel, Jason Kao Hwang, Joseph Jarman, Terry Jenoure, Lee Konitz, Peter Kowald, Oliver Lake, Yusef Lateef, Joёlle Léandre, Elliott Levin, David Liebman, Joe Maneri, Sabir Mateen, Nicole Mitchell, Ras Moshe, Roy Nathanson, Bern Nix, William Parker, Matana Roberts, Larry Roland, Matthew Shipp, Catherine Sikora, Warren Smith, Lisa Sokolov, Steve Swell, John Tchicai, Ijeoma Thomas, Oluyemi Thomas, Assif Tsahar, David S. Ware, and Henry P. Warner, with an incisive foreword by George E. Lewis.

silent solos is dynamically illustrated by Wuppertal’s fine artist, Jorgo Schäfer, with his blueprint#1.

William Parker is not only one of the most important composers and bassists in the creative music world, he also occupies an influential role as an integral figure in contemporary US avantjazz, for example through his association with the annual New York Vision Festival. This jazz festival is the successor of the Sound Unity Festival, which he initiated in 1984 together with Peter Kowald.

In the 1970s he led his own groups such as "Centering Music And Dance Ensemble", "The Aumie Orchestra“, and was a member of groups lead by
Cecil Taylor, Frank Lowe, and Don Cherry. In the 1980s he played with Bill Dixon, Peter Brötzmann, David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp. In 1993 he started his quartet called “In Order To Survive” and the “Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra” in 1994 and more recently "The William Parker Quartet" and the quintet "Raining On The Moon" as well as other special projects including the inside songs of Curtis Mayfield "Music And The Shadow People" and many others.

"who owns music?" assembles William Parker’s political thoughts, his
musicological essays and his poems. He writes as musician, as teacher,
as son, as father, but primarily as a human being, to whom it is important to contribute to shaping the world according to his spirit. The texts are both statements and dreams, just as many of his improvisations in their own right.

Roy Nathanson is an internationally acclaimed jazz composer and saxophonist whose music is inconceivable without his poetry. subway moon his first full book of poetry was written on Brooklyn’s “Q” train and explores the oddly spiritual and intensely public underground space of the New York City Subway through his own internal lens. His words are sounds that he bends and stretches, twists and tucks, until they give up their meanings, until they become notes. As Judith Volmer says, “Rails vibrate the street, window glass splinters a lover’s reverie, and these poems tune us into a thousand mysterious sounds, with heart and lyrical muscle.” Or says Jeff Friedman, “His is an ancient voice crying out in the wilderness, and his wilderness is the subway.”

His career began in the mid 70’s playing with R&B luminaries like Shirley Alston of the Shirelles, to Charles Earland’s band, to The Lounge Lizards, to The Jazz Passengers, which he co-founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. The Passengers have made eight CDs and have done extensive touring over the years. Their most recent project was an original soundtrack (score and dialogue) for the 1954 classic 3-D film “Creature From the Black Lagoon” and “The Rock Concert” an examination of deep time for which Roy received a commission from The University of Wisconsin. He has been the principle composer of the band and has written songs for Elvis Costello, Jeff Buckley, Deborah Harry, Jimmy Scott and many others in that capacity. In recent years, Roy has collaborated with Bill Ware on several film scores including “Raising Victor Vargas”. He has released several CDs of duo works with keyboardist Anthony Coleman. Roy’s work combining music and text has appeared on “The Next Big Thing” on PRI, his first text/music CD “Sotto Voce” was released in spring 2006 on AUM Fidelity Records. His second CD with Sotto Voce will be released in spring 2009 on Enja Records and was a product of a grant from Chamber Music America. Roy’s poems have appeared in Natural Bridge, 5AM and Maggid magazines, he has done a variety of collaborations with Anne Waldman, Gerald Stern and Jeff Friedman. Roy has been a recipient of several Meet the Composer Grants, two NYFA composing fellowships and a Bessie and Joseph Jefferson Award. He teaches improvising and songwriting to young children and received his MFA in poetry at New England College where he has been a guest faculty. His book subway moon is his first book with poetry.