William Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco. He also plays several other instruments from around the world, including the West African kora. While Parker has been active since the early 1970s; he has had a higher public profile since the early 1990s. He is a vital musician in the New York City experimental jazz scene, and has regularly appeared at music festivals around the world, including the Guelph Jazz Festival, in southern Ontario. Parker first came to public attention with pianist Cecil Taylor. He has long been a member of saxophonist David S. Ware's quartet and in Peter Broetzmann's groups. He is a member of the cooperative Other Dimensions In Music. Together with his wife, dancer Patricia Nicholson, he organizes the annual Vision Festival in New York City. Parker is the author of CONVERSATIONS (Rogue Art, 2011) and WHO OWNS MUSIC? (buddy's knife jazzedition, 2008).
