September 6, 2024
Acclaimed pianist and composer Aaron Parks has released “Sports,” the newest single from his forthcoming album Little Big III. Parks’ third studio album with his band Little Big featuring guitarist Greg Tuohey, bassist David Ginyard Jr., and drummer Jongkuk Kim will be released October 18. Written by Tuohey, and featuring a nimbly joyous solo by the guitarist, “Sports” is global jazz in the image of Joe Zawinul and Weather Report.
Little Big III is the second album that Parks has recorded on Blue Note as a bandleader, following 2008’s Invisible Cinema, a powerfully modern, post-genre concept for improvised music in the 21st century that recently received it’s first-ever vinyl release as part of Blue Note’s Classic Vinyl Reissue Series. Invisible Cinema was a touchstone for so much of the atmospheric, indie-tinged jazz that came after and the catalyst for Parks to develop the working band that became Little Big.
Parks’ new album, co-produced by the pianist with Blue Note President Don Was, underscores the evolution of that vision, and that artist. With its shared writing credits and dynamic, streamlined production, Little Big III also reflects the vision of a bandleader who’s learned that letting go fosters greater inspiration than holding the reins tight. “There’s something about this record that feels like it captures the energy of the band in a more raw and honest way,” Parks says.
As Little Big III unfolds, the only thing more striking than the concise, accessible writing is the vibrancy of the ensemble: the empathy with which guitar and piano meld, sidestepping any surplus of harmonic information; Kim’s taste and finesse; the way Ginyard functions compositionally on the low end, anchoring this seemingly intuitive, slippery music.
For the pianist, crafting the album was an exercise in “letting the band itself start to show me what it sounded like, rather than me trying to control it all the time.” It follows that Parks is now at a stage in his life where acceptance, humility and levity are crucial — as a husband and a father, and as someone who has diligently worked on his wellness and mental health. At 40, Parks finds he’s able to “take the music itself more seriously, because I’m taking myself a little less seriously.”
Throughout Little Big III, the band’s kinship is palpable. There’s a vitality at play on the record that is extraordinary; beautiful and raw in equal measure. “While this record feels the most supple and alive,” Parks explains, “it also feels like the most focused album Little Big has recorded — the most distilled down to the essence.”
