To be released June 21 – Pre-orders on now!
[AUM119]
LP – strictly limited edition / 500. Jacket printed on reverse board, includes insert with full credits & liner notes by William, Ellen, and Steven. Another beauty true. Includes full-res download card/code of the total work (with 3 bonus tracks).
CD – 6-panel digipak, printed on heavyweight stock reverse board. Notes by Parker, Christi, Joerg & additional painting by Parker on the inners. Includes 3 bonus tracks which were not included in the final sequence, as created for the LP edition.
* Note special Cereal Music + Heart Trio bundle offers in Format drop-down above – only available during the pre-order period!
William Parker: texts, recitation, +bass, flutes
Ellen Christi: sound design, production, +vocals
On June 21, AUM Fidelity will release two new and distinct album works by William Parker, each as full of beauty and truth as ever. This gem, and Heart Trio created together with long-time compatriots Cooper-Moore & Hamid Drake.
Cereal Music is indeed William Parker’s first spoken word album – poetry and observations from a profound life devoted to the path of finding truth in beauty and speaking truth to power. Hard to believe this hasn't happened before! Parker’s words are further illuminated by deeply sensitive sound design created by an equally long-time compatriot on the same path, producer and singer Ellen Christi. She is the reason this tremendous idea finally happened!
The music of William Parker –in all of its vast scope and range of form– has been an elemental nutrient of our listening life for 30 years. William’s words –whether published on page or spoken from the stage, in interviews or personal conversation– are a part of that music. They speak on the beauty of life itself, exhorting us to be fully alive to live this precious gift we’ve been granted. Compassion is always at core, amplifying the light of life ever-present, even in exceptionally difficult circumstance. Writing was William’s first artistic expression; he began as a young person growing up in the South Bronx projects, first presenting an alternate perception of often bleak surroundings and living conditions in the neighborhood. This early awareness that there was another way of seeing the world, of being in the world, suffused his development as a singularly generous artist and human being.
Ellen Christi’s singing brings joy, and that same affirmation in the beauty of life. The Majesty of Jah [an album released as part of William’s 10-album box set, Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World] is a wonderful feature for her voice. That album also included the track, “Baldwin”, an immediately gripping and affecting piece; James Baldwin’s powerful words and voice resonating even more profoundly within the sonic architecture created around them. That track was produced by Ellen. It was the first I knew of her work as a sound designer/producer. When Ellen called to tell me she had begun work on a similar album-length project, centered on William’s spoken texts, I immediately asked that she please send me the pieces as she finished them. And on my hearing, I was deeply moved again, and again.. Blessings on the creators. May light love and wisdom always be strong.
1. Ode to Kidd Jordan - 02:12
2. Baseball - 01:04
3. Birth - 02:18
4 .Death - 02:27
5. Do Dreams Sleep - 05:45
6. Ellen and Leaves Floating - 06:04
7. Plea - 02:51
8. Into My Heart - 04:30
9. Touring - 01:02
10. Sonny - 05:46
11. Uninvited Guest - 01:37
12. We Were Very Civilized - 03:06
+ CD Bonus Tracks (included w/ LP download card/code)
13. Batala - 01:34
14. Windshield Wipers - 05:59
15. Prayer - 06:41
All words by William Parker, © Centering Music
All compositions / music production
by Ellen Christi, © Ellen Christi Music
except “Prayer” composed by William Parker
Mastered by Paul Wickliffe at Skyline Productions, South Orange, NJ
AUM Fidelity production by Steven Joerg
Paintings by William Parker
Portrait of Ellen & William by Anna Yatskevich
Design by Ming@AUM
On the CD/digital Bonus Tracks:
“Batala” & “Windshield Wipers” are from the same sessions but not included in the final sequence, as created for the LP edition. “Prayer” is a composition by William which first appeared on his Corn Meal Dance album. Ellen had long wanted to arrange and record her own version of this beautiful song, and she completed it just in time to be included here. I am very happy that she did!