William Parker, Ellen Christi

LP – strictly limited one-time edition / 500. Jacket printed on reverse board, includes insert with full credits & liner notes by William, Ellen, and Steven. A beauty. Includes full-res download card/code of the total work (w/ 3 bonus tracks). 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.