A native of Seattle currently residing in New York, pianist and composer Aaron Parks revealed since a very young age an exceptional musical talent that granted him the admission to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music when he was only sixteen years-old and, two years later, the invitation for the first of a series of collaborations with veteran trumpeter Terence Blanchard, namely the recording of the album “A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina)”. In 2007, Parks released his first record for the label Blue Note (“Invisible Cinema”), thus achieving a significative notoriety as composer and inaugurating a body of work as leader which is by now comprised of several chapters, both solo as in band format. Besides his compositional work, materialized in several recordings for the prestigious record label ECM, Aaron Parks has also collaborated throughout his professional trajectory with several nuclear musicians of contemporary jazz, such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ambrose Akinmusire, Marcus Miller or Joshua Redman, and among his most recent projects we may highlight the trio he maintains with double-bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Eric Harland.

Ben Solomon is a saxophonist based in New York whose professional career in music was inaugurated touring with the band of the legendary trumpeter Wallace Roney, in the context of which he collaborated with other great names of jazz such as Buster Williams, Gary Bartz and Ron Carter, among others. In parallel to his work as sideman, Solomon, a musician of solid academic training, develops a relevant activity as composer and is also the author of a book on modulation studies for saxophone.

Born in Japan and currently residing in New York, bassist Kanoa Mendenhall studied at Columbia University and Julliard School, two of the most prestigious musical academic institutions of the United States. Since the beginning of her professional career, Mendenhall was a member of the band Good Vibes, led by vibraphonist Joel Ross, and of the trio led by vocalist Maria Grand, having also collaborated with numerous reputed musicians of North-American jazz, such as Marquis Hill, John Ellis and Charles Altura, among many others.

RJ Miller is a North-American drummer whose technical competences in jazz are complemented by an interest in the exploration of electronic and ambient music, as well as by techniques of juxtaposition of percussion, keyboards and analogic synthesizers. His professional curriculum includes collaborations with musicians active in New York’s jazz scene (among them Ethan Iverson, Matt Penman and Ben Monder, just to name a few), as well as a persistent work with his own projects, namely the trio of electronic and psychedelic jazz Jesus Cactus.

The Aaron Parks Quartet marks the pianist and composer’s return to an acoustic format after many years focused on projects of a more electric nature. Rhythmical, subtle and eminently classic, the music of this group is based on a fusion of composition and improvisation, supported upon diversified rhythms and inspired by an unfailingly principle of freedom of expression of all the musicians involved.