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William Hooker
William Hooker (drummer,composer and poet) has created works that range from jazz and "new" music to experimental genres. He has released over 70 CDs as a leader. Mr. Hooker has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Edgefest Jazz Festival, The Vision Festival, The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Walker Art Center,the first on MTV, The Kitchen, Roulette, Real Art Ways. He has also presented his work at the JVC Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, CMJ Music Festival,Vilnius Jazz Festival, Experimenta Argentina,The Knitting Factory and the Victoriaville Music Festival.
William Hooker has received commissions and support from the New York State Council on the Arts,Meet the Composer,Tokio Marine Insurance Company, Colleges and Universities such as Oberlin, Fordham, Columbia,New York University, Boston University, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale and many more. Accompanying musicians have included Billy Bang,David Ware,William Parker,Thurston Moore, David Soldier,Roy Campbell,DJ Spooky,Steven Bernstein,Zeena Parkins,Lee Ranaldo,Jason Hwang,Sabir Mateen, Elliot Sharpe,David Murray,Ted Daniel,JD Parren and many more.
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William Hooker: Light - The Early Years 1975-1989
![Read "Light - The Early Years 1975-1989" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/williamhooker_light_js.jpg)
by Giuseppe Segala
L'etichetta lituana NoBusiness Records, orientata verso il free storico e la musica più recente che ne è derivata, si distingue anche per le raffinate riedizioni in tiratura limitata. Light, sottotitolato The Early Years, 1975- 1989, presenta in quattro CD l'attività del batterista e compositore William Hooker, catturata in quegli anni in locali, studi radiofonici, loft e luoghi di cultura di New York. Il materiale è in parte inedito, in parte pubblicato originariamente su vinile dall'etichetta dello stesso Hooker, la Reality ...
read moreWilliam Hooker, Thomas Chapin: Crossing Points
![Read "Crossing Points" reviewed by Enrico Bettinello](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/2010/williamhooker_crossingpoints_js.jpg)
by Enrico Bettinello
L'aggiornato e appassionato blog Free Jazz dedica a questo disco una recensione di pochissime righe, quasi una lista di tags che forse meglio di ogni ragionamento riesce a dare le coordinate della musica del duo tra il batterista William Hooker e il sassofonista Thomas Chapin. Certo, a elencare qualità [a volte anche apparentemente ossimoriche come lirismo e cattiveria] e chiari riferimenti -da Coltrane/Rashied Alì a Ayler -è facile fare centro, ma sicuramente non servono troppe parole quando ...
read moreWilliam Hooker: Light The Early Years 1975-1989
![Read "Light The Early Years 1975-1989" reviewed by Mark Corroto](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/williamhooker_light_js.jpg)
by Mark Corroto
The good news is that record executives are no longer the gatekeepers of taste and style in music today. Inexpensive recording equipment and the advent of digital music allow the artist, and the audience to cast a wide net these days. This wasn't the case forty years ago, especially for the improvised jazz scene. Studio time was expensive and the production of vinyl LPs, in the quantities free jazz sold, was cost prohibitive. Documents of the time, when improvised music ...
read moreWilliam Hooker: Light
![Read "Light" reviewed by John Sharpe](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/williamhooker_light_js.jpg)
by John Sharpe
Light constitutes another welcome instalment from the back pages of NYC free jazz by the Lithuanian No Business imprint, following on from Jemeel Moondoc's Muntu Recordings (2009), Commitment's Complete Recordings 1980/1983 (2010) and William Parker's Centering: Unreleased Early Recordings 1976-1987 (2012) box set, among others. The label has released some of drummer William Hooker's most accomplished work in recent years, such as Bliss -Earth's Orbit (2010) and Live At Vilnius Jazz Festival (2014) as well as previous documents from the ...
read moreTake Five with William Hooker
![Read "Take Five with William Hooker" reviewed by William Hooker](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/2010/williamhooker100x100.jpg)
by William Hooker
About William Hooker: I grew up in New Britain, Connecticut and basically was a good student, and came from a good home. I did all that I could possibly do to make my way through New Britain High School, Nathan Hale Junior High, and Central Conn. State College. I tried to get good grades to be an exceptional student as far as playing in the band and orchestra, in leading the chorus and student councils. I was brought up ...
read moreWilliam Hooker & Liudas Mockūnas: Live at Vilnius Jazz Festival
![Read "Live at Vilnius Jazz Festival" reviewed by John Sharpe](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/williamhooker_liudasmockunas_liveatvilniusjazzfestival_mc.jpg)
by John Sharpe
Veteran drummer William Hooker continues to expand his varied discography on the No Business imprint, with the addition of Live At Vilnius Jazz Festival. Like Crossing Points (2011) with the late reedman Thomas Chapin, it's a meeting with a resourceful saxophonist -this time Liudas Mockūnas, a co-founder of the label. But unlike the former encounter, on this occasion Hooker avoids the all out aural assault which tested Chapin to the limits, settling instead for power exercised with restraint and precision. ...
read moreWilliam Hooker & Liudas Mockūnas: Live at Vilnius Jazz Festival
![Read "Live at Vilnius Jazz Festival" reviewed by Mark Corroto](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/williamhooker_liudasmockunas_liveatvilniusjazzfestival_mc.jpg)
by Mark Corroto
Did somebody say bring it?" Must have, because the combination of muscleman drummer William Hooker and Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockūnas surely delivers the goods in this 53-minute duo improvisation performance at the Vilnius Jazz Festival in October 2013.The four lengthy tracks are part of a continuous set the two seared into their audience's ears. Certainly, the combination of Hooker's dynamo and Mockūnas' lung bursting breath are present here, so is a discriminating subtle sound. Hooker, a ...
read moreNew NoBusiness Records Archive Series Release: William Hooker "Light. The Early Years 1975-1989"
![New NoBusiness Records Archive Series Release: William Hooker "Light. The Early Years 1975-1989"](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/WilliamHookerbox-image.jpg)
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NoBusiness Records
Featuring David S. Ware, David Murray, Roy Campbell Jr., Mark Hennen, Jemeel Moondoc and others. NoBusiness Records is pleased to announce a new archive release from it’s series of important musicians and group recordings from the 70s and 80s, which either were never released before or released on small private labels but long out of print and now newly remastered. This release is dedicated to William Hooker’s early music and covers his most important works during the period from 1975 ...
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William Hooker Brings Drum Thunder To Outpost 186 Cambridge MA on Sunday April 14th
![William Hooker Brings Drum Thunder To Outpost 186 Cambridge MA on Sunday April 14th](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/25028f6ce28d53394d55d3c8d89255bf.jpg)
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Chris Rich
The venerable William Hooker rolls into town for a solo performance involving projected visuals and a duet segment with trumpeter Forbes Graham. The proceedings will commence at 8 pm with a suggested donation of $10.00. Mr. Hooker has been an avid collaborator with Knitting Factory notables such as Elliot Sharp, Thurston Moore and Zeena Parkins in addition to the many stellar adherents of the Free Jazz core stretching back several decades to his work with Cecil Taylor, David S. Ware ...
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William Hooker Duets with Thomas Chapin! "Crossing Points" Documents the Convergence.
![William Hooker Duets with Thomas Chapin! "Crossing Points" Documents the Convergence.](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/25028f6ce28d53394d55d3c8d89255bf.jpg)
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Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
I have a friend who is dedicated to the music. He prides himself on NOT being a collector, of not making a fetish out of owning thousands upon thousands of recordings to line up in long rows and nod knowingly about the music when guests arrive. Yes, you see I own all this music, so you know that I know all about it." He doesn't imply that. He rejects it. He is in the music for the music. Yet his ...
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William Hooker and Thomas Chapin - Crossing Points (Nobusiness, 2011)
![William Hooker and Thomas Chapin - Crossing Points (Nobusiness, 2011)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/25028f6ce28d53394d55d3c8d89255bf.jpg)
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Music and More by Tim Niland
Multi-instrumentalist Thomas Chapin was one of my guiding lights when I started getting into jazz really heavily in the 1990's. His Knitting Factory releases are all stellar, and he could play anything from swing to bop to free, but was possibly at his best when combining all genres or dispensing with the notion of genre entirely.
This duet album finds him in the company of master drummer William Hooker for a two man blast off into the cosmos. Make no ...
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Wave Lengths
![Wave Lengths](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/25028f6ce28d53394d55d3c8d89255bf.jpg)
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Ars Nova Workshop
On February 17, Ars Nova Workshop presents a free concert at The Rotunda with William Hooker's Two Sides of Now and Norwegian duo Vertex. Tonight (February 11) on WRTI’s premier jazz program The Bridge, host J. Michael Harrison interviews William Hooker. Broadcasting live at 10pm (EST) from WRTI’s headquarters at Temple University, you can stream the interview here. Along with Dave Burrell's Echo, Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, and Sunny Murray's Sunny's Time Now, drummer William Hooker's Is Eternal Life is ...
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William Hooker Trio - Yearn for Certainty (Engine)
![William Hooker Trio - Yearn for Certainty (Engine)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/25028f6ce28d53394d55d3c8d89255bf.jpg)
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Master of a Small House
An admirable eclecticism and open-mindedness underscores William Hooker's career as a drummer. He's reliably followed his muse even when the ideas advancing his numerous projects have suffered under suspect application. This concert at Roulette is an apposite example of that phenomenon. On cardboard tray card it brims with potential intrigue. String bender David Soldier and reedist Sabir Mateen are two stalwart Downtown heroes with infrequent intersections between them. Hooker's decision to enlist them both is inspired. Holding the occasion in ...
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Drummer William Hooker Releases "The Season's Fire" on Important Records
![Drummer William Hooker Releases "The Season's Fire" on Important Records](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/25028f6ce28d53394d55d3c8d89255bf.jpg)
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All About Jazz
Featuring Eyvind Kang and Bill Horist Dharma on Kmbjazz Featuring Sabir Mateen
William Hooker is an artistic whole, a vast circle of vision and execution. A body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his compositional agenda and the science of the ...
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William Hooker in Seattle - Sat. 10/20 & Sun. 10/21
![William Hooker in Seattle - Sat. 10/20 & Sun. 10/21](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/logo/bd38a72ed12128b10ddc05c6087dacb8.jpg)
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All About Jazz
PeruviaNighTrain Productions & Wall of Sound are proud to present:
~ two very special shows ~
feat. Knitting Factory recording artist William Hooker (drums)
and Tzadik (John Zorn's label) rec. artist Eyvind Kang (violin)
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Here's the lowdown:
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- WILLIAM HOOKER (nyc) & EYVIND KANG (seattle)
{with a special guest appearance by Bill Horist}
- CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS
- CHARLES GOCHER (of the Sun City Girls)
feat. Pint-Sized Spartacus
AT: THE RAINBOW - 722 NE 45th St. [Seattle] ...
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