Born in Chicago, Chris was playing drums at age three and began performing his first professional gigs at eleven. At nineteen, Parker began recording and touring with blues great Paul Butterfield and then broke into the New York studio scene in 1970,doing records, movie scores and filling the drum chair at Saturday Night Live. Toph, as friends know him, recorded platinum, gold and Grammy winning albums and CDs with many artists, including, Bob Dylan, Cher, Natalie Cole, Donald Fagen, Ashford and Simpson, Aretha Franklin, Freddie Hubbard, James Brown, Stuff, Miles Davis, Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, and Quincy Jones who has written liner notes for the latest cd, ”Blue Print.”
Currently leading his own band, the Chris Parker Trio with Kyoko Oyobe, piano and Ameen Saleem, bass, Parker has just recorded “Blue Print,” a new cd dedicated to Arif Mardin and produced by Arif’s son, Joe. This new work features Randy Brecker on three tracks as well as Parker’s original compositions.
In this episode, Chris talks about
- New York scene in the 70s, when he was getting serious about music
- His 50 year association with bassist Will Lee
- His work with Stuff, and playing double drums in the band with Steve Gadd
- Seeing numerous drum legends over and over at New York clubs, and receiving mentorship from them in different ways
- How an impromptu rehearsal/jam with Bob Dylan unknowingly served as an audition
- Adapting to the many different ways Dylan wanted to interpret songs in the moment
- How his passion for drawing and painting has informed his musical approach
