Zeena Parkins

Zeena Parkins takes on the harp, piano, accordion, and sampler in a number of improvised, songs, contemporary composed, and avant-garde jazz configurations. Delivered in Detroit, Michigan, she researched dance, harp, and traditional piano, and gained an excellent Arts level from Bard University. Parkins shifted to N.Con.C. in 1984, where she started collaborating with various other music artists in downtown’s avant-garde music picture. She performed in Butch Morris’ ensembles and in John Zorn’s Cobra. She also shaped Skeleton Staff with renowned improviser Fred Frith and flexible cellist Tom Cora, and toured European countries, Japan, the U.S., and Iceland together. From 1986 on, Parkins constructed scores for movie theater, dance, and movies, commissioned by performers, locations, and organizations such as for example Meet up with the Composer, NY Condition Council for the Arts, as well as the Rockefeller Base. She’s continued to be interested and involved with staging multimedia shows, and provided workshops for dancers and music artists at N.Con.C.’s Motion Analysis and in Vermont, at Bennington University. As a head, Parkins provides performed and documented solo — much like No Way Back again, on Atavistic — in addition to with her Gangster Music group. Gangster Band, which include family members Sara and Margaret Parkins, provides documented her compositions for the Avant and Tzadik brands, like the chamber piece for Isabelle Eberhardt, Isabelle (1995), and 1999’s Pan-Acousticon, which she co-produced with longtime collaborator Elliot Clear (she performed in his group, Carbon, as well). The Gangster Music group provides performed at celebrations in Europe, with a number of N.Con.C. venues, through the Lincoln Center towards the Knitting Manufacturer. Parkins provides performed and documented in a broad realm of configurations, from dealing with Pauline Oliveros and Anthony Braxton, for an MTV Unplugged concert using the rock band Gap. She has performed at songs and jazz celebrations all over the world, like the Moers Celebration (Germany), Switzerland’s Taklos Celebration, Music Merge in Tokyo, and Quebec’s FIMAV. Following a somewhat silent period, a live documenting offering improvisers Thurston Moore (Sonic Youngsters) and Nels Cline (Geraldine Fibbers), made an appearance on JMZ Information.