Zeena Parkins | |
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![]() Parkins in April 5, 2008 | |
Background information | |
Born | 1956 (age 67–68) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments | |
Years active | 1980s–present |
Labels |
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Website | www |
Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp".[1] Parkins performs on standard harps, several custom electric harps, piano, and accordion. She is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and professor in the Music Department at Mills College.[2]
Life and career
[edit]Born in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, Parkins studied at Bard College and moved to New York City in 1984.[3] Her work ranges from solo performance to large ensembles.[2] Besides standard and electric harps, her work also incorporates Foley, field recordings, analog synthesizers, samplers, oscillators and homemade instruments.
She has recorded six solo harp records[2] and recorded and performed with Björk,[4] Matmos, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Christian Marclay, Yoko Ono,[5] John Zorn (including in Cobra performances),[3] Chris Cutler, Pauline Oliveros,[6] Nels Cline,[7] Elliott Sharp,[8] Lee Ranaldo,[9] Butch Morris,[10] Tin Hat Trio,[11] William Winant,[12] Anthony Braxton, Bobby Previte,[13] Courtney Love's band Hole,[14] and others. She has also been a member of a number of experimental rock bands, including No Safety,[15] News from Babel,[16] and Skeleton Crew.[3]
Parkins worked with dance companies and choreographers, including the John Jasperse Company, Jennifer Monson,[17] Neil Greenberg, and Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, and has won three Bessie Awards for her achievement in composition for dance.[2]
She provided scores for filmmakers including Abigail Child,[18] Isabella Rossellini,[19] and Cynthia Madansky.[20][2]
Parkins received a 1997 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.[21]
Discography
[edit]As leader
[edit]Release year | Title | Label | Additional personnel |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Something Out There | No Man's Land | Sam Bennett, Cora, Wayne Horvitz, Christian Marclay, Jim Mineses, Ikue Mori, James Staley |
1992 | Ursa’s Door | Les Disques Victo | Mori, Chris Cochrane, Sara Parkins, Maggie Parkins |
1993 | Nightmare Alley | Table of the Elements | |
1995 | Isabelle | Avant | S. Parkins, M. Parkins, Lisa Crowder |
1996 | Mouth=Maul=Betrayer | Tzadik | S. Parkins, M. Parkins, Mark Stewart, Jim Pugliese ft. Carsten Dane, Mattthias Breitenbach, Andy Hass |
1998 | No Way Back | Atavistic | |
1999 | The Opium War: A Radio Play | Einstein Records | Text by Ana María Simo; ft. M. Parkins, Ikue Mori, Joe Trump, Cochrane, David Shea, DJ Olive, DD Dorvillier, Jonathan Bepler, Tenko |
1999 | Pan-Acousticon | Tzadik | S. Parkins, M. Parkins, Stewart, Pugliese, ft. Trump |
2004 | Devotion | Table of the Elements | |
2006 | Necklace | Tzadik | Doug Henderson, Eclipse Quartet: S. Parkins, Sara Thorblade, Joanna Hood, M. Parkins |
2010 | Between the Whiles | Table of the Elements | luciana achugar, Levi Gonzalez, Eleanor Hullihan, S. Parkins, Pugliese |
2012 | Double Dupe Down | Tzadik | Mori, Marclay, Shelley Hirsch, Okkyung Lee, S. Parkins, M. Parkins, Staley, Matthew Welch, David Watson, William Winant, Pugliese |
2013 | The Adorables | Crytogramophone | Parkins, Shayna Dunkelman, Preshish Moments, ft. Deep Singh, Dave Sharma, Kristin Slipp, Danny Blume |
2016 | Three Harps, Tuning Forks & Electronics | Good Child Music | Nuiko Wadden, Kristen Theriault, Megan Conley ft. Mori |
2018 | Captiva | Good Child Music | Matthew Ostrowski |
Collaborations
[edit]- with News from Babel
- Work Resumed on the Tower (Recommended, 1984); Parkins, Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, Dagmar Krause
- Letters Home (Recommended, 1986); Parkins, Cutler, Cooper, Krause ft. Robert Wyatt, Dagmar Krause, Sally Potter, Phil Minton
- with Ikue Mori
- Parkins & Mori, Phantom Orchard (Mego, 2004)
- Phantom Orchard, Orra (Tzadik, 2008); ft. Cyro Baptista, Makigami Koichi, Josh Quillen, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje
- Phantom Orchard Orchestra, Trouble In Paradise (Tzadik, 2012); ft. Sara Parkins, Shayna Dunkelman, Ratkje, Maggie Parkins, Hild Sofie Tafjord
- Phantom Orchard Ensemble, Through the Looking Glass (Tzadik, 2014); ft. Sylvie Courvoisier, S. Parkins, Ratkje, M. Parkins
- with No Safety
- This Lost Leg (RecRec Music, 1989); Parkins, Chris Cochrane, Doug Seidel, Ann Rupel, Pippin Branett
- Spill (Knitting Factory Works, 1992); Parkins, Cochrane, Seidel, Rupel, Tim Spelios
- Live at the Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory Works, 1993); Parkins, Cochrane, Seidel, Rupel, Spelios
- Live in Italy (Cuneiform Records, 2021)
- with Elliott Sharp
- Elliott Sharp / Zeena Parkins, Psycho–Acoustic (Victo, 1994)
- Psycho-Acoustic, Blackburst (Victo, 1996)
- with Skeleton Crew
- The Country of Blinds (Rift, 1986); Parkins, Fred Frith, Tom Cora
- Free Dirt (Live) (Klanggalerie, 2021); Parkins, Frith, Cora
- Other collaborations
- OWT (Parkins & David Linton), Good As Gold (Homestead Records, 1989)
- Joane Hétu / Diane Labrosse / Parkins / Danielle P. Roger / Tenko, La Légende De La Pluie (Ambiances Magnétiques, 1992)
- William Hooker / Lee Ranaldo / Parkins, The Gift Of Tongues (Knitting Factory Works, 1995)
- Chris Cutler / Parkins, Shark! (Megacorp, 1999)
- Parkins / Nels Cline / Thurston Moore, Live At Easthampton Town Hall (JMZ, 2001)
- Weightless Animals (Parkins, Kaffe Matthews, Mandy McIntosh), Weightless Animals (Annette Works, 2004)
- Parkins, Frederic Rzewski, James Tenney, Music for String Quartet & Percussion (New World Records, 2013); with Eclipse Quartet (S. Parkins, Sarah Thornblade, Alma Lisa Fernandez, M. Parkins) and William Winant
- Parkins / Pauline Oliveros, Presença Series #01 (Lucky Kitchen / Fundação de Serralves, 2015)
- MZM (Myra Melford, Parkins, Miya Masaoka), MZM (Infrequent Seams, 2017)
- Green Dome (Parkins, Ryan Sawyer, Ryan Ross Smith), Thinking in Stitches (Case Study Records, 2019)
- Parkins / Brian Chase, Live at San Damiano Mission (Chaikin Records / Case Study Records, 2019)
- Parkins / Wobbly, Triplicates (Relative Pitch Records, 2019)
- Parkins / Jeff Kolar, SCALE (Two Rooms, 2019)
- Parkins / Mette Rasmussen / Ryan Sawyer, Glass Triangle (Relative Pitch, 2021)
As instrumentalist
[edit]With Björk
- Telegram (One Little Indian, 1996)
- Vespertine (One Little Indian, 2001)
- Drawing Restraint 9 (One Little Indian, 2005)
- Biophilia (One Little Indian, 2011)
With Alex Cline
- For People in Sorrow (Cryptogramophone, 2013)
With Nels Cline
- The Inkling (Cryptogramophone, 2000)
- Destroy All Nels Cline (Atavistic, 2001)
- Macroscope (Mack Avenue, 2014)
- Lovers (Blue Note, 2016)
With Fred Frith
- The Country of Blinds (Rift, 1986) as Skeleton Crew
- Step Across the Border (RecRec, 1990)
- That House We Lived In (Fred, 1991 [2003])
- Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (I Dischi di Angelica, 1999)
- Traffic Continues (Winter & Winter, 2000) with Ensemble Modern
- Ragged Atlas (Intakt, 2010) as Cosa Brava
- The Letter (Intakt, 2012) as Cosa Brava
With Maybe Monday
- Unsquare (Intakt, 2008)
With Yoko Ono
- Blueprint for a Sunrise (Capitol, 2001)
With Marc Ribot
With John Zorn
- Cobra (Hat Hut, 1987)
- John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory, 1997)
- The Bribe (Tzadik, 1998)
With Tin Hat Trio
- Book of Silk (Ropeadope/Rykodisc, 2004)
With Bobby Previte
- Terminals (Cantaloupe, 2014)
Notes
[edit]- ^ Ross, Alex (March 27, 1993). "Zeena Parkins Avant-Garde Harpist Roulette". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Zeena Parkins". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c Santoro, Gene (July 15, 1990). "Harpists Without Halos Test Their Wings". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Masters, Marc; Currin, Grayson (April 16, 2010). "Keeping Indie Weird". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ "Yoko Ono: Blueprint for a Sunrise". AllMusic.com. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ "Pauline Oliveros / Zeena Parkins / Michelle Grabner (Lucky Kitchen and Fundação de Serralves)". Institute for New Connotative Action. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Walls, Seth Colter (August 6, 2016). "Nels Cline: Lovers". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Watrous, Peter (June 13, 1991). "Elliott Sharp and Carbon The Knitting Factory". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (December 24, 1992). "Lee Ranaldo, Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins Roulette". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (November 16, 1989). "Free Butch Morris Concerts". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Zwickel, Jonathan (August 16, 2004). "Tin Hat Trio: Book of Silk". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ "Zeena Parkins and William Winant Perform Music for Minor Planets". BAMPFA. March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Watrous, Peter (September 4, 1989). "Violating the Pop Structure". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Harris, Chris (April 17, 2020). "Hole's 'MTV Unplugged' At 25: It 'Ended Up Not Very 'Unplugged' At All'". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (January 24, 1988). "No Safety, A Quintet, at P.S. 122". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Leone, Dominique (February 13, 2007). "Out Music #2". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Kourlas, Gia (February 20, 2018). "From the Prairie to the City, Dancing to Invoke the Dawn". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Teshigahara, Tristan (2014). "Perils, Mutiny and Mayhem by Abigail Child". desistfilm. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ "Green Porno" (PDF). Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ "Cynthia Madansky". CFMDC. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ "Zeena Parkins". Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Retrieved March 8, 2021.