Spectrum
Zeena Parkins :  Modesty of the Magic Thing
Cat. # 4057
Released Aug 2025
US Price $16.00
 
Composer, harpist, improviser, and educator Zeena Parkins has been a mainstay of the Downtown scene since 1984, performing with Fred Frith, John Zorn, Bjork, Ikue Mori, Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, and countless others. Her newest project, years in the making, pays tribute to the fearless American visual artist Jay DeFeo. Zeena captures DeFeo’s bold experimentalism and love of beauty with a lush, exotic extended work for harp and percussion. Performing with her on a unique instrument built by legendary composer Lou Harrison is her close collaborator William Winant. One of Zeena’s most important and compelling releases, this is a major composition by a pioneering harpist/composer who still surprises after forty years of groundbreaking work!
 
 
Personnel:
Zeena Parkins: Acoustic Harp, Wooden Bows, Microphone Tracer
William Winant: Lou Harrison Just Tuned Tenor Bells, Leon Schneiderman Microtonal Bells, 3 Japanese Temple Bells, D4 Alm-glocken, Small Tam-tam, Suspended Cymbal, Large Tam-tam