Life-changing recordings: Aaron Parks on Danilo Pérez’s ‘...Till Then’

I considered a bunch of different options; and some records were obvious contenders – one of the Miles [Davis] Bootleg releases with the Quintet that I love, love, and was formative information for me.

But ultimately, I chose a record that may be less obvious: ... Till Then, by Danilo Pérez. I think it’s important to cite your sources, and it’s a record and a musician and a band that had a profound influence on my musicianship in so many ways. Plus, it’s good to ‘give people their flowers while they’re around’!

I came to it by being in the studio when it was being recorded. It made an extra-big impression on me since I was actually there, because at the time I was dating Lizz Wright, who sings on a few tracks. There’s a couple of different crews on the record: the trio that made up the basis of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, with Patitucci and Blade – incredible, of course; but the trio that really made a big impact on me was the one that I used to see live, with Ben Street and Adam Cruz. They played a lot around New York at that time; and I’d go, and always sit as close to them as I could, soaking it up.

That trio had a way of approaching their music live that was so thrilling! Every one of those concerts felt so dancing and folkloric, but also dangerous. They would work out these intricate arrangements, and then oftentimes Danilo would just toss them to the wind when they performed. You had to be ready to play whatever was on the page and be ready to throw it away. That was an important juxtaposition for me. I must have been around 20, 21, and I was a few years into my stint in Terence Blanchard’s band, which I joined when I was 18. I was just starting to integrate into the music community in New York; and I was wide open to different information.

Then the record actually came out, and it was at a time that I look back on fondly – the iPod days. I walked around with a ton of music in my pocket – and only music. There was nothing else to scroll around or distract myself with. I have clear visual memories of listening to this record at various subway stops!

As a composer, Danilo’s melding of the simple and the complicated, his weaving of disparate elements into something that feels integrated, has been profoundly influential. So though it’s not so clear a throughline to me, genre-wise, the same principles have been in play for me. As a pianist, there’s something particular about his phrasing that I got a lot from: the way his lines unfurl, the gestures. There’s a type of patient vigilance – you notice it especially at the beginning of some of the solos. It’s like he’s taking a moment at the edge of the water to check out what the surf is doing, what the temp is; waiting for the right moment and then diving in.

He often sets out on one rhythmic trajectory and then slip-slides off into some spiralling eddy. I was listening to this record again to see if I could see any parallels with my music; and on my new record with [his band] Little Big, track two, ‘Locked Down’, I hear a lot of Danilo in that. With him, it’s a state of mind – a feeling that everything is already OK, we’re just dancing and decorating, not needing to prove anything and not trying to impress, just allowing oneself to be whimsical.

What’s also special is he’ll create phrases that build excitement, then he’ll just vanish, leaving you in the air – a bit like Ahmad Jamal. There’s a sense of the magician. At other times, he’s darting through the air, you can hear the eight-note line searching its way like a tendril, looking where it’s going all the time. I’ve listened to the title track so many times that his solo is completely imprinted in me; and, as so often, his improvisations are concise but bold. Which is like old records – when you listen to Charlie Parker, by necessity he has to say what he has to say in a short amount of time. I really admire the simultaneous economy and risk-taking. You can’t afford to waste any time, to noodle; and you use the negative space as part of the intention. It’s the art of distillation!

Also, Danilo had been very kind to me when I met him. It’s interesting how personal relationships can open you up to a world of music that you might not have peered into.

Aaron Parks’ latest release Little Big III is out now on Blue Note