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MUSIC - Jonathan Parker - Saxophone

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"Originally from the Washington D.C. area, Jonathan currently resides in New York City. "He graduated from The Oberlin Conservatory in 2008 where he studied under jazz legend Gary Bartz, as well as other world-class musicians, including Wendell Logan, Marcus Belgrave, Billy Hart, Dan Wall, and Robin Eubanks." Jonathan has also performed with Jimmy Heath, Dave Brubeck, and Slide Hampton while attending Oberlin. He has shared the stage with Terence Blanchard, Randy Brecker, Mulgrew Miller, and David Berkman to name a few.

While living in Washington D.C. area, Jonathan was an active performer and teacher. Local to DC, he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Blues Alley Jazz Club, Twins Jazz Club and other venues. He has also worked as a music and saxophone teacher at The Patricia M. Sitar Center for The Performing Arts in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington DC.

Jonathan has also performed at "many other highly-regarded musical venues" and schools including Carnegie Hall, Fat Cat Jazz Club in NYC, Stanford University in California, Skidmore College in New York, Night Town Jazz Club and The Bop Stop in Cleveland, OH.

Jonathan moved to Shanghai, China, where he lived and performed for two years. He relocated back to the U.S in 2010.  While in Shanghai, he established himself "as a vital and essential player" in the music community. While there, he performed with both foreign and native jazz musicians in local venues.  A few notable venues were the JZ Club, The Cotton Club, and CJW.  Jonathan toured for 4 month in Beijing with American jazz singer Frankye Kelly.

Now living in New York City, Jonathan has gotten to know and perform  with "many talented and innovative young musicians who are at the vanguard of modern jazz." Jonathan leads his own band, the "Jonathan Parker Group" for which he "exclusively composes and arranges." Influenced by a wide range of musical genres and manifesting his experiences from all over the world, Jonathan Parker’s compositions and improvisations have been described by reviewers from All About Jazz as “bold,” “having an intense energy,” “sentimental,” and “emotional.” ~ Assembled from multiple sources

REVIEW

Jonathan Parker: Interloper


"Saxophonist Jonathan Parker has covered quite a lot of ground since graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2008: Shortly thereafter, he relocated to Shanghai, China, carving out a performing life for himself there. Then, he was accepted into the Kennedy Center-sponsored Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program in 2010. Parker moved to New York City in the fall of that year, where he quickly gained some attention with the release of The Jonathan Parker Group (Self Produced, 2010)—his debut album, recorded during that two-year sojourn in China. He subsequently snagged an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award for "Lois," which appears on the aforementioned debut, completed a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance from The Eastman School Of Music, and moved on to Washington D.C."     ~ Dan Bilawsky - AllAboutJazz.com

Jazz Music by Saxophonist Jonathan Parker


"Jonathan Parker is a saxophonist based in New York City who we caught up with recently to find out about his jazz music exploits overseas. He has been touring with Theo Croker for the last two years and was residing in Shanghai making his own music. Parker has made his contribution in the jazz world abroad and was part of the nascent jazz scene in Shanghai. Jonathan is back in NYC now and told us what he was up to. He has new music out."    ~ Abmuku.com

Article

Music Notes: Jonathan Parker Octet (2015)


"The melodies on his new album sometimes sway like a third martini, sometimes linger like a kiss, and sometimes rollick like a fast drive in a convertible. One feels as if they’re at a WWII dance in a modern time warp. Parker’s sax and flute are backed up by trombone, trumpet, piano, guitar and percussion. He was ten years old when he made friends with a classmate who was taking saxophone lessons. Parker dabbled until high school, when he says it suddenly began to define his identity: “There were the jocks, the math-letes, and I guess I fit in to the band and music set.” By junior year he was getting serious and applied and matriculated at Oberlin College."    
~ Kirsten Obadal - Washington Life Magazine

VIDEOS:

Jonathan Parker at The Oriental Arts Center
Everything Happens To Me - pHB Trio
Jonathan Parker - Lover Man