Zeena Parkins | GOTO 95

Zeena Parkins

Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard harps, several custom electric harps, piano, and accordion. She is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow and professor in the Music Department at Mills College.

Table of contents

Life and career

Discography

Collaborations

As instrumentalist

Life and career

Born in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, Parkins studied at Bard College and moved to New York City in 1984.

Her work ranges from solo performance to large ensembles. Besides standard and electric harps, her work also incorporates Foley, field recordings, analog synthesizers, samplers, oscillators and homemade instruments.

She has recorded six solo harp records and recorded and performed with Björk, Matmos, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Christian Marclay, Yoko Ono, John Zorn (including in Cobra performances), Chris Cutler, Pauline Oliveros, Nels Cline, Elliott Sharp, Lee Ranaldo, Butch Morris, Tin Hat Trio, William Winant, Anthony Braxton, Bobby Previte, Courtney Love's band Hole, and others. She has also been a member of a number of experimental rock bands, including No Safety, News from Babel, and Skeleton Crew.

Parkins has often worked with dance companies and choreographers, including the John Jasperse Company, Jennifer Monson, Neil Greenberg, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, BodyCartography Project, and Jennifer Lacey, and has won three Bessie Awards for her achievement in composition for dance. She has also provided scores for filmmakers including Abigail Child, Isabella Rossellini, Cynthia Madansky, Mandy MacIntosh, and Daria Martin. Parkins received a 1997 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.

Discography

Collaborations

with News from Babel

Work Resumed on the Tower (Recommended, 1984); Parkins, Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, Dagmar Krause

Letters Home (Recommended, 1986); Parkins, Cutler, Cooper, Krause ft. Robert Wyatt, Dagmar Krause, Sally Potter, Phil Minton

with Ikue Mori

Parkins & Mori, Phantom Orchard (Mego, 2004)

Phantom Orchard, Orra (Tzadik, 2008); ft. Cyro Baptista, Makigami Koichi, Josh Quillen, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje

Phantom Orchard Orchestra, Trouble In Paradise (Tzadik, 2012); ft. Sara Parkins, Shayna Dunkelman, Ratkje, Maggie Parkins, Hild Sofie Tafjord

Phantom Orchard Ensemble, Through the Looking Glass (Tzadik, 2014); ft. Sylvie Courvoisier, S. Parkins, Ratkje, M. Parkins

with No Safety

This Lost Leg (RecRec Music, 1989); Parkins, Chris Cochrane, Doug Seidel, Ann Rupel, Pippin Branett

Spill (Knitting Factory Works, 1992); Parkins, Cochrane, Seidel, Rupel, Tim Spelios

Live at the Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory Works, 1993); Parkins, Cochrane, Seidel, Rupel, Spelios

Live in Italy (Cuneiform Records, 2021)

with Elliott Sharp

Elliott Sharp / Zeena Parkins, Psycho-Acoustic (Victo, 1994)

Psycho-Acoustic, Blackburst (Victo, 1996)

with Skeleton Crew

The Country of Blinds (Rift, 1986); Parkins, Fred Frith, Tom Cora

Free Dirt (Live) (Klanggalerie, 2021); Parkins, Frith, Cora

Other collaborations

OWT (Parkins & David Linton), Good As Gold (Homestead Records, 1989)

Joane Hétu / Diane Labrosse / Parkins / Danielle P. Roger / Tenko, La Légende De La Pluie (Ambiances Magnétiques, 1992)

William Hooker / Lee Ranaldo / Parkins, The Gift Of Tongues (Knitting Factory Works, 1995)

Chris Cutler / Parkins, Shark! (Megacorp, 1999)

Parkins / Nels Cline / Thurston Moore, Live At Easthampton Town Hall (JMZ, 2001)

Weightless Animals (Parkins, Kaffe Matthews, Mandy McIntosh), Weightless Animals (Annette Works, 2004)

Parkins, Frederic Rzewski, James Tenney, Music for String Quartet & Percussion (New World Records, 2013); with Eclipse Quartet (S. Parkins, Sarah Thornblade, Alma Lisa Fernandez, M. Parkins) and William Winant

Parkins / Pauline Oliveros, Presença Series #01 (Lucky Kitchen / Fundação de Serralves, 2015)

MZM (Myra Melford, Parkins, Miya Masaoka), MZM (Infrequent Seams, 2017)

Green Dome (Parkins, Ryan Sawyer, Ryan Ross Smith), Thinking in Stitches (Case Study Records, 2019)

Parkins / Brian Chase, Live at San Damiano Mission (Chaikin Records / Case Study Records, 2019)

Parkins / Wobbly, Triplicates (Relative Pitch Records, 2019)

Parkins / Jeff Kolar, SCALE (Two Rooms, 2019)

Parkins / Mette Rasmussen / Ryan Sawyer, Glass Triangle (Relative Pitch, 2021)

As instrumentalist

With Björk

Telegram (One Little Indian, 1996)

Vespertine (One Little Indian, 2001)

Drawing Restraint 9 (One Little Indian, 2005)

Biophilia (One Little Indian, 2011)

With Alex Cline

For People in Sorrow (Cryptogramophone, 2013)

With Nels Cline

The Inkling (Cryptogramophone, 2000)

Destroy All Nels Cline (Atavistic, 2001)

Macroscope (Mack Avenue, 2014)

Lovers (Blue Note, 2016)

With Fred Frith

The Country of Blinds (Rift, 1986) as Skeleton Crew

Step Across the Border (RecRec, 1990)

That House We Lived In (Fred, 1991 [2003])

Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (I Dischi di Angelica, 1999)

Traffic Continues (Winter & Winter, 2000) with Ensemble Modern

Ragged Atlas (Intakt, 2010) as Cosa Brava

The Letter (Intakt, 2012) as Cosa Brava

With Maybe Monday

Unsquare (Intakt, 2008)

With Yoko Ono

Blueprint for a Sunrise (Capitol, 2001)

With Marc Ribot

Requiem for What's His Name (Les Disques du Crépuscule, 1992)

With John Zorn

Cobra (Hat Hut, 1987)

John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory, 1997)

The Bribe (Tzadik, 1998)

With Tin Hat Trio

Book of Silk (Ropeadope/Rykodisc, 2004)

With Bobby Previte

Terminals (Cantaloupe, 2014)

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