left to right: Parks, Stephens, Street, Nilsson

Pianist and composer Aaron Parks hits the road with music from “By All Means”, a new album, his third for Blue Note, released on November 7th 2025. With some changes in  lineup (replaced Ben Solomon with Dayna Stephens on tenor saxe and Billy Hart with Cornelia Nilsson on drums) this quartet brings the spirit of the album to life while exploring new directions through the material. 

Here Parks embraces a more swinging, harmonically rich sound, drawing from the deep well of jazz tradition while making it uniquely his own. You can hear the influence of Wayne Shorter, Kenny Wheeler, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Duke Ellington in the compositions-filtered through Parks’ distinct perspective. The result is a true jazz record: melodic, intricate, and full of vibrant interplay, with songs that feel both classic and fresh, timeless and personal. This touring quartet brings the music to life with energy and spontaneity, offering audiences the chance to experience these songs as living, ever-evolving conversations. The concert included compositions from his latest studio album, such as “A Way”,  “Parks Lope”, “Dense Phantasy”, and two other, dedicated to his wife “For Maria Jose”) and “Little River” (for his newly born son), as well as a version of “Conception” of George Shearing (in a slower ballad tempo) and “Reinventing the wheel”, a  ballad, dedicated to the great trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.

A special attention to drummer, Cornelia Nilsson. Swedish jazz drummer, born in 1992, and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is one of the most swinging, intuitive, grounded, subtle, and adventurous drummers I’ve encountered. She comments, pushes and develops the interaction with the other musicians. I will definitelly follow her development, not only because she is a very good musician, but also because female drummers are very rare thing, especially in jazz. And this name is the first that strikes me after the great Marilyn Mazur.

Author: Cyrille Vladimirov