View source for Testimony (William Parker album)

{{Infobox album
| name       = Testimony
| type       = live
| artist     = [[William Parker (musician)|William Parker]]
| cover      = William_Parker_Testimony.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 1996
| recorded   = December 28, 1994
| venue      = [[Knitting Factory]], New York City
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Free jazz]]
| length     = 1:17:58
| label      = Zero In<br>1
| producer   = Derek Milner
| chronology = [[William Parker (musician)|William Parker]]
| prev_title = [[In Order to Survive (album)|In Order to Survive]]
| prev_year  = 1995
| next_title = [[Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy]]
| next_year  = 1996
}}
'''''Testimony''''' is a live solo double bass album by [[William Parker (musician)|William Parker]], his first solo release. It was recorded on December 28, 1994, at the [[Knitting Factory]] in New York City, and was issued on CD in 1996 by the tiny Zero In label. The music was also included in the 2011 compilation ''Crumbling in the Shadows is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake'' (Centering Records).<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/testimony-mw0000185125 |title=William Parker: Testimony |first=Brian |last=Flota |website=AllMusic |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/william-parker/testimony(live) |title=William Parker - Testimony |website=Jazz Music Archives |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/william-parker/solo-bass-crumbling-in-the-shadows-is-fraulein-millers-stale-cake |title=William Parker - Solo Bass: Crumbling in the Shadows is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake |website=Jazz Music Archives |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bb10k.com/PARKER.disc.html |title=The William Parker Sessionography |first=Rick |last=Lopez |website=Bb10k |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref>
The track titled "Testimony" is dedicated to jazz double bassist [[Beb Guérin]], while "Dedication" pays homage to [[Charles Clark (musician)|Charles Clark]] and [[Albert Stinson]].<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Testimony |others=William Parker |type=liner notes |year=1996 |publisher=Zero In |id=1 |first=William |last=Parker}}</ref>
==Reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{rating|2.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic"/>
| rev2 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Jazz]]''
| rev2Score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holtje |first1=Steve |last2=Lee |first2=Nancy Ann |title=MusicHound: The Essential Album Guide |publisher=Schirmer |year=1998 |pages=888 }}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]''
| rev3Score = {{rating|3|4}}<ref name="penguin">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2008 |pages=1130 }}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide]]''
| rev4Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Swenson |editor-first=John |title=The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide |publisher=Random House |year=1999 |pages=533 }}</ref>
| rev5 = [[Tom Hull – on the Web]]
| rev5Score = B+<ref>{{cite web |last=Hull |first=Tom |url=https://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/shop/jazz-60s.html |title=Jazz (1960–70s) (Reference) |website=Tom Hull – on the Web |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref>
}}
In a review for [[AllMusic]], Brian Flota praised Parker's "amazing emotional and experimental capabilities," but noted the "less than average production of the disc."<ref name="allmusic"/>
The authors of ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings]]'' wrote: "Solo contrabass performance is a stern discipline. Parker pays full tribute to [[Barre Phillips]], and much of this live recording... recalls Barre's rich, balletic solo works."<ref name="penguin"/>
Ed Hazell of ''[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|The Boston Phoenix]]'' called the music "stunning," and stated: "Parker plunges in as if he were trying to save a sinner from the devil. From its opening moments, 'Sonic Animation' grabs you with alarming force as Parker wails and declaims with the fury of an Old Testament prophet... With his arsenal of rhetorical devices, speed, and facility on the bass -- and a dark, woody tone that projects honesty and strength -- Parker maintains a remarkable level of intensity for nearly 80 minutes."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/music/reviews/10-24-96/REX/WILLIAM_PARKER.html |title=Human Revolution: William Parker Moves Free Jazz Ahead |first=Ed |last=Hazell |date=October 24, 1996 |website=The Boston Phoenix |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref>
The ''[[Chicago Reader]]'''s [[John Corbett (writer)|John Corbett]] described the album as "a splintering blindside attack of metal, wood, and bow hair," and commented: "'Sonic Animation' is 23 minutes of furious energy, all arco, while Parker's singular approach to pizzicato–accelerating phrases, string buzzing on the neck, multilinear riffs, and the constant thud of thwacked open notes–is evident on the title cut; moving into the finale, he sits on a single cool melodic line, smacking the bottom-end nastily between numerous repetitions."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://chicagoreader.com/music/bottom-dwellers |title=Bottom Dwellers |first=John |last=Corbett |date=September 19, 1996 |website=Chicago Reader |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref>
==Track listing==
Composed by William Parker.
# "Sonic Animation" – 22:58
# "Testimony" – 11:22
# "Light #3" – 3:51
# "Dedication" – 15:38
# "The 2nd Set" – 24:09
== Personnel ==
* [[William Parker (musician)|William Parker]] – double bass
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:1996 live albums]]
[[Category:William Parker (musician) live albums]]