Scodanibbio: William Parker e Stefano Scodanibbio Duo

Bass Duo presents the historic and only performance meeting of these two renowned and innovative bass masters, each representing distinct musical traditions; both fully committed to the summit at hand. It was recorded during the Udin&Jazz 2008 Festival in Udine, Italy at Teatro San Giorgio. Both William Parker and Stefano Scodanibbio are bassists, composers and improvisers possessing a deep sense of musical poetry, organic inventiveness, and personal style.

William Parker (Bronx, NY, January 10, 1952) was heralded some time ago by the Village Voice as “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time” and Time Out New York named him one of the “50 Greatest New York Musicians of All Time.” He has been a key figure in the New York and European creative music scenes since the 1970s, and has performed extensively with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Peter Brötzmann, Milford Graves, Peter Kowald, and David S. Ware, among many, many others. He has appeared on well over 150 albums to date, and has been perpetually presenting his own far-ranging and highly acclaimed work as a leader since the mid-90s.

Stefano Scodanibbio (Macerata, Italy, June 18, 1956 / Cuernavaca, Mexico, January 8, 2012). During his too short lifetime he was renowned as an interpreter and collaborator with many of the major composers writing for the contrabass (Bussotti, Donatoni, Estrada, Ferneyhough, Frith, Globokar, Xenakis, among others), and he performed dozens of works written especially for him in major festivals throughout the world. The Los Angeles Times acclaimed his “dazzling, disciplined virtuosity,” and later that “[he] lifted the instrument into new realms.” John Cage, on hearing his work Ryoanji performed by Scodanibbio, stated “his performance was absolutely magic. I was just amazed!”

This concert recording was produced for release by William Parker on his own Centering Records imprint, and is pressed in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Packaged in a deluxe 6-panel digipak and featuring liner notes by fellow bassist-composer Mark Dresser, and Parker himself.