Thurman Barker

b. 8 January 1948, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Emerging from the Chicago free scene, a founder member of the AACM, percussionist Barker first played and recorded with fellow Chicagoans Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, Joseph Jarman, Muhal Richard Abrams and Anthony Braxton, in whose quartet he played in the late 70s. Economic survival meant periods of working in musical pit bands, but joining Cecil Taylor's Unit in 1986 brought further exposure. Taylor's dense, polyrhythmic style required the services of someone with an acute sense of structure and an incisive attack; these Barker ha...