Career

A native of Seattle, Parks studied at the University of Washington at the age of 14 through the Transition School and Early Entrance Program as a double major in computer science and music. At 15, he was selected to participate in the Grammy High School Jazz Ensembles which inspired him to move to New York City and transfer to the Manhattan School of Music. At Manhattan one of his teachers was Kenny Barron. During his final year, he began touring with Terence Blanchard's band, recording three albums with them for Blue Note, including the Grammy-winning A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Parks can be heard on the soundtracks: Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Spike Lee and films: Inside Man, She Hate Me, and When the Levees Broke.\n

Parks released his first four albums on Keynote Records between 1999 and 2002. In 2008, he released Invisible Cinema, his debut for Blue Note. Following this, he released two albums for ECM, and is currently an artist on Ropeadope Records.\n

He is a member of the band James Farm with saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. He has toured with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.\n

Awards and honors

2001: Cole Porter Fellow of the American Piano Awards
2006: Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition (third place)
Jas Hennessy Piano Solo Competition at Montreux (third place)
2016: DownBeat magazine: “25 for the Future”

Discography

As leader

\n\n

Main sources:\n

As member

James Farm
\nWith Joshua Redman, Matt Penman and Eric Harland\n

James Farm (Nonesuch, 2011)
City Folk (Nonesuch, 2014)

As sideman

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References

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External links

Official site
Aaron Parks at NPR Music

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Aaron Parks

Broadcast History