Aaron Parks

Born in Seattle in 1983, Aaron Parks began studying piano at an early age before moving to New York, where he established himself on the contemporary jazz scene in the early 2000s. His playing fits within a post-bop language open to textures from indie rock, pop, ambient and improvised music, often featuring melodic writing and moods that are more introspective than showy. Parks first drew attention as a sideman with musicians such as Terence Blanchard, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Joshua Redman, while also developing his own repertoire. Under his own name he released Invisible Cinema (2008), Arborescence (2013) and Find the Way (2017), three albums that chart a progression toward more spacious forms and an increasing focus on atmosphere. With the group Little Big, Parks then explored a format more directly plugged into the energy of electric music—between modern jazz, rock pulse and a taste for instrumental song—on Little Big (2018), Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man (2020) and Little Big III (2022). In this way Parks has pursued a career at the crossroads of New York jazz and broader, cross-disciplinary aesthetics.