If the typography on the sleeve of Aaron Parks’ new album “By All Means” looks familiar, you aren’t imagining it; it’s a knowing nod to Jackie McLean’s cover for his 1965 release “It’s Time“, and by way of that, a modernist jazz era. 

“By All Means” is the new album from Seattle pianist Parks and his third on Blue Note as bandleader. Making his Blue Note debut as part of Terence Blanchard’s band in the early 2000s, Parks showed early promise of the glittering career that lay ahead of him; it certainly made sense for a musician who enrolled in an early entrance degree programme at the University of Washington, aged just 14-years-old. 

Parks is recognised for his dichotomy of compositional approaches. As a bandleader, he can draw from a well of indie, rock, hip-hop and contemporary jazz—consider his Blue Note debut “Invisible Cinema”, which further cemented his ascension as a progressive rising star of American jazz. Alternatively, he’s just as nimble and skilled when concerning himself directly with the jazz tradition, approaching the piano and his band leadership with a modernist framework. 

In “By All Means”, Parks draws from the latter school of thought, referencing the likes of Wayne Shorter in terms of harmonic complexity. Several melodies throughout the album are easily singable, but that doesn’t make this body of work a simple one. Like a serene duck fuelling its journey with busy feet beneath the water, it’s the harmony which really powers the compositions along. This relationship between melody and harmony means that “By All Means” is an album that glides unconfrontingly, whilst simultaneously rich in ideas. It’s a piece of work that rewards repeat listens, with chances for the listener to notice something new each time. 

One of the many factors that separates this album from its predecessor on Blue Note, “Little Big III”, is the result of a dream. Whilst touring in Portugal in 2023, 42-year-old Parks dreamt of his forthcoming shows at New York City’s iconic Village Vanguard. He knew he’d be performing alongside his esteemed rhythm section—bassist Ben Street (John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner) and elder drummer Billy Hart, a jazz master who was a part of Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band in the early 1970s and has worked with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest. Together, the three of them have been active since 2012, Yet, Parks had a strong impulse to add to this trio ahead of his Village Vanguard run.

When he woke, he knew he wanted to bring a saxophonist into the group, inspired in part by the belief that Hart has a “special way” with horn players. Parks knew just the person. A year previous, he’d been moved by the music of thirty-one year old Ben Solomon, a mentee of the late, great trumpeter Wallace Roney. And it was done. Solomon brought young blood and a new dynamic to the group, informed by the school of Coltrane. It was shortly after these run of shows that “By All Means” found its final form. 

Some moments of the album really swing; Anywhere Together—which he wrote the bones of as a teenager—and Parks Lope both nod to Duke Ellington. The latter was written as a light joke to himself with reference to his uneven gait, and it accompanies two tracks written for his family; the tender offering For María José and a lullaby named Little River for his first born son Lucas, who arrived in 2020. Moving in three, it’s one of the more animated numbers on the album. 

Reflecting on his work, Parks says: “This is a record that loves the jazz tradition; the tradition of Black American Music. It’s not about nostalgia or preservation. It’s about being alive within that lineage, that continuum. That’s what the title points to. It’s a big yes; a way of saying ‘absolutely, let’s join that party’”. 

Parks considers “By All Means” to be a thank you to his many musical influences, his family, his bandmates, and even jazz itself. “More than anything it’s about the joys of playing together, improvising with one another over a song form,” says Parks. “This record is simply about loving the music”. 

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_{Header image: Aaron Parks. Photo: Isaac Namias.}