William Parker to release Universal Tonality – an epic archival recording which brings the titular concept to vibrant life. This live performance features a truly once- in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries and legends, including Billy Bang, Grachan Moncur III, Jerome Cooper, Dave Burrell, Jin Hi Kim, Joe Morris, Miya Masa- oka, Daniel Carter, Jason Kao Hwang, Gerald Cleaver.

The idea of Universal Tonality came to William Parker in a flash. He traces the origins of the concept back to one night in the early ‘90s when he took part in a performance in Philadelphia that teamed various seasoned improvisers with a group of didgeridoo players and a troupe of Cherokee dancers. Despite a lack of any rehearsal or pre- conceived plan, the show went off beautifully.

“It came together without saying a word,” Parker recalls of the night. “So after this concert, I said, ‘Wow, that’s Universal Tonality — the concept that if we’re all breathing together, we’re singing together.’”

An exquisite example of this system in practice will see release September 30, 2022 on Centering Records via AUM Fidelity, in a deluxe 2-CD digipak & digital formats. Clocking in at nearly two hours and featuring six extended pieces flowing across two discs, Universal Tonality documents a performance that took place at Roulette in Man- hattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood in December 2002 (one of the final concerts at the venue’s original loft space). Parker invited 16 musicians of various ages, cultures and backgrounds to join him in an experiment of “breathing together.” Whether it’s embodying a roof-raising big band, or an intimate cross-cultural chamber ensemble, the collective heard here always displays an impressive coherence and sensitivity. The results of the group’s one-night-only communion can now take their place among Parker’s many landmark mid-to-large–ensemble works spanning the past three de- cades, including previously released Universal Tonality–driven pieces like Double Sunrise Over Neptune, recorded in 2007 and released the following year, and 2012’s Red Giraffe with Dreadlocks, released on the 2015 box set For Those Who Are, Still.