Evan Parker, one of the formative and transformative figures in the music of our time, celebrates his 80th birthday today, 5 April 2024. We (*) asked friends and colleagues to send birthday greetings:

Joshua Abrams:

psi science spirit
intersection within breath
wry laughs & story

Dear Evan, a very happy 80th solar return! Buckets of gratitude for always lifting the bandstand & the ongoing 30 year conversation.  Your trenchant generosity of sound, knowledge & inspiration stretches out past the horizon.

Django Bates: Last time our Venns intersected, we were celebrating Charlie Parker at Wigmore Hall.  I suggested, “Commentate freely over my dense arrangements”, but Evan insisted on playing all the written material, saying before our only rehearsal:

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“I’ve got hold of a Grafton acrylic Alto like Charlie’s, so send me Eb parts.”

Then, “Grafton’s broken, I’d like tenor parts.”

Then, “Can you redo those an octave lower?”

Constant tweaking of possibilities, and conversations rich with red herrings and laughter; this is Evan’s modus operandi: the never-ending introduction of gentle chaos. Thank you for your works; for sax gruffles squeezed into a nanosecond of silence with a honed skill so easily mistaken for magic. Your gestures move the dial, transform the band, illuminate any concert. Happy 80th to our belovèd chaotician.

Corrado Beldì: A memory of NovaraJazz: Evan playing a solo at dawn in Novara. Early June, swallows flying around. The medieval courtyard full of people. Everyone gets hypnotized. No words, notes in the amber sky, unforgettable Evan!

Happy Birthday from Corrado and the whole NovaraJazz crew!

Riccardo Bergerone: Evan e’ come una buona bottiglia di Barolo! Piu’ invecchia e piu’ la sua arte, il suo coraggio e la sua visione musicale sprizzano profumi e regalano sorprese infinite. Che arrivano dal passato e si proiettano verso il futuro. Come il buon Barolo.

(Evan is like a good bottle of Barolo! The older he gets, the more his art, his courage and his musical vision release fragrances and provide endless surprises. Which come from the past and project themselves into the future. Like good Barolo.)

Stuart Broomer: Happy birthday, Evan. In a career running from the 1960s to the 2020s, in a music where supposedly anything goes, you have mapped out some of the broadest and most welcoming pathways, explored some of the richest and rarest veins, harmonized the common and the arcane, and contributed to building community wherever it might arise. Wonderfully, you continue to do all those things. Thank you for all the music.

Tom Challenger: Dear Evan, Happy birthday! It’s hard to know where to begin, although it definitely began for me in 2000 (?) at Appleby Jazz Festival. Easier to talk about is where it’s been…Well, of course, the Vortex every month, god knows how many other countless places; and when you first asked me to play. Those moments all matter. Your willingness to be self critical and critical has shown me the lighter (important) side of study: nothing is ever above the other. Long may that continue! Again, happy birthday!

Sylvie Courvoisier: Dear Evan, Happy Birthday… Miller’s Tale in Russia, Lucy’s lounge in Brooklyn, Octaven in Yonkers, stinky basement studio you know where, Cast-a-net with the cows, all these great memories… I love your playing, I love you, and can’t wait to play and hang with you again!

Marilyn Crispell: Happy Birthday, dear Evan. Good wishes from here and beyond! Love, Marilyn.

Tony Dudley-Evans: When Evan Parker was a student at the University of Birmingham he lived with other students in a large house round the corner from where I live now. I walk past this house virtually every day and think of the many wonderful concerts Evan has given in Birmingham. I remember him playing solo, with Spring Heel Jack, with the Electronic Project, with the Riot Ensemble, and with small groups with Mark Sanders and John Edwards. Great memories.

John Edwards: Happy birthday Evan xx 

John Etheridge: Evan, you have been an inspiration for years, and listening to you a few weeks ago at the Vortex, I was thinking: “Age cannot wither nor custom stale…”

Jeremy Farnell: Hey you were born ! So your free, Happy Birthday.

Binker Golding: Happy birthday Evan. It’s always been an honour to work with you & a pleasure to listen to you. Your music still has the same impact for me as it did when I first heard it at 16 years old.

Alexander Hawkins:

Günther Huesmann: You completely redefined the way a saxophone can sound. Thank you for that: Evan Parker is the magical lungs of free jazz.

Charlotte Keeffe: WOW, thank you for your pioneering, powerful, mesmerising music-making throughout all of these decades! You’ve inspired SO many folks and of course continue very much to do so! Seeing and hearing you will always be an exciting experience and an honour – I’ll always be starstruck in your presence!  Sending LOVE and Birthday wishes on behalf of your Mopomoso and London Improvisers Orchestra buddies too!  Lots of LOVE, Charlotte.

Patrik Landolt, Intakt Records: Happy birthday! Wonderful moments at Evan’s many concerts at the Taktlos Festival, the unerhört Festival in Zurich and in 25 recordings by Evan for Intakt Records with Barry Guy, London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Globe Unity Orchestra, Schlippenbach Trio, Alexander Hawkins, Matthew Wright Trance Map, etc. These recordings write music history and remain in the very best of memories. And of course the many good dinners in the Rheinfelder Bierhalle in Zürich. I look forward to the next time.

Chris Laurence: I have always had a great relationship with Evan. Our common denominator has been Kenny Wheeler, who always loved having Evan in any big band projects we did together. I find him a very broad-minded musician ,and I’ve enjoyed and been honoured that he has always had a positive attitude to my playing ,and the music I’ve been involved with.
He’s skilled at dealing with musician’s rights, not just for himself, but for the jazz fraternity as a whole. Well done Evan for this milestone in time, and keep up your individual spirit in this tricky world, Chris.

Marcello Lorrai: So much of Evan Parker’s work has the rare gift of being completely and permanently contemporary. Even if made half a century ago or more, his music is not of the past but of the present and the future: happy birthday Evan!

Joe Lovano: Happy Arrival Day Evan Parker 🎉.  I want you to know how inspiring it’s been being in your audience and sharing the space with you on occasion through these years.  Your passion and love comes through your horn in every breath you take and has a sound and life all its own… Have a joyous day and years to come 🙏.  Looking Forward. 🎷

Francesco Martinelli: Fearless sonic explorer of the XX and XXI Centuries, Evan Parker brought the soprano saxophone where it had never been before, developing a unique approach to solo performance whose impact was felt across all the music spectrum. As a group improviser or bandleader he was a founder or member of the most influential ensembles of the global free improvisation movement: Globe Unity, London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Brotherhood of Breath, Dedication Orchestra, M. I. C., as well as his own long-standing trio, Electro-acoustic Ensemble. His articulate reflections on creativity and passion for all musics have enriched us all. His music has been a companion of my life for 50 years and I have been inspired by all our personal interaction – as well as having a lot of fun.

Ikue Mori: Happy Birthday dear Evan!  Wishing you the best of 80s and more to come. Hope to get to see you and play again. Sending my love from NY. 

Maggie Nicols: Evan, a dear kindred spirit and innovator who plays and speaks truth to power with love , courage and integrity.

Roberto Ottaviano: Many years ago, wandering Towards the Margins, I was sucked into the Conic Sections of the Topography of the Lungs and found you looking at me slyly… From that moment on you have been present like a circular breathing in my music world. Luckily, because you always keep my attention awake on the principles and rigor of choices. Thank you always and especially on this day. Happy Birthday Maestro.

Walter Prati: Alternating energy and tranquillity, impetuosity and patience, acoustics and electronics, solo and ensemble, leader and supporter; these are the worlds in which Evan has accompanied me in 39 years of collaboration. Is there still much to discover? Maybe yes maybe no; I don’t know exactly…

Veniero Rizzardi: Evan the Master. At 17, I had been just got shocked – and hooked – by “Topography of the Lungs” when I discovered that my newfound hero was set to perform in my hometown, Milan, at none other than the Piccola Scala, with the Brotherhood of Breath – marking the first time jazz graced La Scala’s stage! It was an unforgettable night, a life-altering experience. Little did I know, this was merely the beginning of a long journey that would gradually lead to a friendship, a gift from Evan himself, on his birthday. This is the essence of encountering true masters. When we pay homage to them, we are simply acknowledging the gifts they bestow upon us.

Ned Rothenberg: Dear Evan, I will be so happy to join you for the festivities in London around your birthday. We chose the title ‘Monkey Puzzle’ for our first release, acknowledging our common place in the Chinese system, as I reside one cycle behind you. We were relatively young monkeys back then but time has fled. Still, I regard you as a prime musical mentor and I know that is the case for many others, regardless of whether they share the nerdy saxophonic commonalities that we do. I look forward to making music together for this hallowed occasion and hope we can find a little more gold in the mine. With deep love, nr.

Mark Sanders: Happy birthday Evan!  Have a great weekend celebrating your 80th at Cafe Oto. I look forward to seeing you there. Many happy returns. Mark x 

Pino Saulo: Dear Evan, it has been a pleasure to play your music during all these years here at the station. And it has been a pleasure to meet you in Italy. I have a vivid recollection of the first time, here at Radio Rai studios for a wild improvised session with Alvin Curran. Pure joy.
There’s a statement of yours, “My roots are in my record player”, that we love so much and that we use every time we invite a musician, a producer, a critic to tell us the soundtrack of his life. I said it has been a pleasure to play your music and still is. After all, I think the best way to celebrate your birthday will be playing some of your music on air tonight. Stay well and in great shape. Happy Birthday from Pino Saulo and the ‘battiti’ team with Antonia Tessitore, Ghighi Di Paola and Chiara Colli.

Wolfgang Schmidtke: Ich habe Evan Parker seit mehr als vierzig Jahren immer wieder gehört. Die Essenz die ich dabei zu hören meine, ist eine Reduktion an Masse zugunsten einer Konzentration im Detail. Der frühe EP produzierte eine faszinierende Vielfalt an Saxophonkaskaden. Ein Melodieverlauf im konventionellen Sinn war nicht gewollt, schon allein, weil die Kaskaden einen Großteil an Mikrotonalität und Geräuschanteil hatten. Anders und einfachst ausgedrückt: In kürzester Zeit verliessen wahnsinnig viele Klangeriegnisse den Schalltrichter. Der EP den ich den letzten zehn Jahre regelmäßig gehört habe, macht eigentlich das Gegenteil. Ich meine zu hören, dass er sich von Jahr zu Jahr intensiver mit der Qualität jedes einzelnen Tons beschäftigt. Die Summe der Töne, die aus dem Trichter kommen ist viel kleiner geworden, aber jeder einzelne wiegt eine Tonne. EP war und ist ein Avantgardist, denn er wagt die Änderung.“

(I have been listening to Evan Parker for more than forty years. The essence I think I hear is a reduction of mass in favour of a concentration on detail. The early Evan produced a fascinating variety of saxophone cascades. A melodic progression in the conventional sense was not the intention, if only because the cascades had a large proportion of microtonality and noise. To put it simply: an incredible amount of sound left the bell of the instrument in a very short space of time. The Evan Parker I’ve been listening to regularly for the last ten years actually does the opposite. I think I can hear that from year to year he is more and more concerned with the quality of each individual sound. The sum of the sounds coming out of the bell has become much smaller, but each one weighs a ton. Evan Parker was and is an avant-gardist, because he dares to make changes.)

Sebastian Scotney: Dear Evan, your spontaneous and conspicuous act of generosity towards me in 2011, opening the liner note for the album “The Long Waiting” with words from my review of the first gig of the Kenny Wheeler 80th birthday tour, still touches my heart. I can never thank you enough.

Bill Shoemaker: Happy 80^th birthday, Evan, with many thanks.

Nick Smart: Happy Birthday dear Evan! Huge congratulations and many happy returns to come. Thank you for all you’ve given over the years with your fearless innovation and artistic vision – you’ve been a guiding light for as long as I can remember. It has been a pleasure to work with you in all the various projects we’ve collaborated on; your calm leadership, musical open-mindedness and generosity have been an inspiration. Looking forward to celebrating with you in person soon.

David Toop: When I first heard Evan play live, probably 1972, it was a revelation. His sound was harsh, explosive, like splintering wood, fire spreading through a building, sparks showering from skidding train wheels. We became friends and occasional collaborators when he contributed to a small book, New/Rediscovered Musical Instruments. What I have gained is immeasurable. We share common interests in music from Korea, Japanese gagaku, Papua New Guinea sacred flute music, shamanism, bird song, duration and the ethics and workings of improvisation. In more recent years we became a double act called Sharpen Your Needles, an opportunity to play records from our personal collections and talk about them. His contribution to music is vast.

Mark Turner: Hello Mr Parker, Happy Birthday with appreciation and respect. It’s musicians like yourself that remind me to play the long game and continue what I believe in.  Regards, Mark

Peter Urpeth: Happy birthday Evan! With thanks for so much inspiration (on-going), support (on-going), and no little amount of patience over so many years. I first heard Evan on Tony Oxley’s Ichnos, aged about 14, and then came the solo recordings and gigs, that rush of wow and awe that changed everything in music for me, and in my life. Thanks for those first gigs when I was starting out, and for the craic, and all the times I’ve felt so proud having you play at my various club nights. 

Alex Ward: Dear Evan, Happy Birthday! Long may you continue to cause reeds, air columns and eardrums to do things no-one would have suspected them capable of until you proved otherwise.

Oliver Weindling: Evan’s monthly gigs at the Vortex, which continued for nearly 30 years, were an education for me – with too many very special experiences to list here. It is a rare privilege to have got to know a musician who’s taken the saxophone, and improvised music, into new dimensions, the impact of which have touched us all.

Richard Williams: Evan Parker’s singularity is one of the great features of modern music. There’s nothing and nobody like him, although he fits brilliantly into just about any context you might imagine, from the early SME through Scott Walker and Basil Kirchin to Spring Heel Jack and his endlessly fascinating solo work. And to think I once thought of him as a rather austere, even forbidding figure. That impression lasted about two minutes into our first conversation. Nobody tells better stories. Many more of them, please, dear Evan, and many happy returns.

Geoff Winston: Evan, it doesn’t seem so long ago that we were celebrating your 70th! It’s always been an inspiring roller-coaster ride following your musical journey, often treading where others rarely tread. Just to pick out a few in the last year or so – the transcendent solo performance at St James’s Piccadilly echoing that at the Royal Naval Chapel, Greenwich ten years earlier; the warm and generous collaborations with poet Peter Urpeth at Hundred Years Gallery; the stunning opening sequence on Alexander Hawkins’ ‘Togetherness Music for Sixteen Musicians’ recorded during lockdown; the return to the mesmeric Treader recording, ‘Evan Parker with Birds’ live at Cafe Oto with Ashley Wales and John Coxon. It’s always been a joy! With very best wishes, Geoff.

Matt Wright: Dear Evan, Happy 80th Birthday!  I’m so thankful to Richard Whitelaw for looking out to sea with a steely gaze and keeping his nerve! The clouds parted, your gig went ahead and after that we had our first conversation, the first of so many. Thank you for 16 years of traversing the trance map, from Athens to Zurich, from London to Lisbon, from NYC to Knoxville to… Great Yarmouth! Pork and clams forever! 

Nikki Yeoh: My love of freedom in all aspects of life brought me to search for freedom within music. As a teenager, I would scan  ‘Jazz in London’ religiously to see where I could get my fix of anarchic, honest expression. This pilgrimage led me to the Mecca that was usually hidden behind several rooms in an obscure pub. I first saw Evan play at The Green Man; he played solo, it was transcendental, the real deal, life-affirming and very VERY good. The same freedom facilitated by dexterity and absolute fluency that I heard in Bird, I heard in Evan. Evan is our unsung hero, I feel blessed to have been alive at the same time as him and play together. 

(*) LJN would like to thank Alexander Hawkins for his tireless work generating many of the connections for this piece. Thanks also to Ann Braithwaite, Julian Maynard-Smith, Michael Ruesenberg and Jeremy Farnell