Jason Parker Quartet - Five Leaves Left: A Tribute To Nick Drake (2011)

I don t remember the first time I heard Nick Drake s music, but I do remember that it was the song Time Has Told Me . Fitting that I should start with the first song from his debut album. I became a life-long fan at that moment and have spent many hours listening to his three studio albums and all of the other recordings that have surfaced since his untimely death in 1974.

A few years ago taught myself to play that song and a few others of Nick s on the piano and in doing so, I realized how well suited they are for interpretation and exploration. His songs are full of emotion, yet sparse enough to lend themselves a variety of arrangements, and they match the open-ended style of the JPQ perfectly. I decided to do an arrangement of the song Three Hours for the band, and it came out so well that we ended up recording it for our last album, No More, No Less. That song became one of our signature tunes, and the reaction we received every time we played it was a pleasant surprise to me. I was happy to see our music and Nick s music coming together to resonate so profoundly in others.

I had been wanting to pay tribute to Nick in a larger way, and decided to pick my favorite songs from his catalog for a new CD. As I listened through all his tunes, I kept coming back to the ten songs on Five Leaves Left. The album is such a mature and perfect statement. I realized that I couldn t separate any individual songs from the totality of the album, and thus the idea was born to record the one album in its entirety as our tribute to Nick Drake.

The JPQ consists of Jason Parker on trumpet & flugelhorn, Josh Rawlings on piano, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass and D Vonne Lewis on drums. They have been honing their tight swinging sound for three years, which shows in the way they interact with each other on stage and the deep bond that results. Each member of the group pours his passion and excitement into the performance making a Jason Parker Quartet show both musically and visually exciting. These four Seattle musicians have carved their own path, honoring the jazz tradition by bringing their own passions and personalities to bear on the music.

For this project Parker enlisted the help of two very special guests, Cynthia Mullis on tenor sax & flute and Michele Khazak on vocals.

The JPQ has released three previous, critically acclaimed CD s and played all the top venues in Seattle, including Jazz Alley, The Triple Door, Tula s, Lucid Jazz Lounge and Egan s.