Why Aaron Parks Bootlegs His Own Band

Little Big's 'Live in Berlin' captures an essence. Let's talk about it.

Aaron Parks with Little Big on tour in 2019. (©️ Olivier Lestoquoit/Flickr)

Today is Bandcamp Friday, an objectively good tradition that seems imperiled — but while we still have it, let’s put it to use, shall we? I’m here to share news of a brand-new album worth shelling out for: Live in Berlin, by Aaron Parks’ Little Big. Recorded this spring at Zig Zag Jazz Club in Berlin, it’s a vérité document of a killer band that, up to this point on record, had been known for its meticulous sound design.

“We’ve put so much polish on these studio albums, with overdubs and really trying to do our best,” Parks told me a few days ago, when we connected to talk about it. “And there’s something about just the rawness of the band I felt we hadn’t captured.”

You get that rawness, absolutely, from Live in Berlin, which features Parks on piano and keyboards alongside guitarist Greg Tuohey, bassist David Ginyard, Jr. and a new drummer for the band, Jongkuk Kim. The album was recorded on Parks’ iPhone, using the Voice Memo app — the same technique he deployed a decade ago for a beautiful acoustic trio album called Alive in Japan.

I’d recommend Live in Berlin to anyone who appreciates the melding of modern improv with atmospheric indie-rock, in a way that doesn’t pander but rather finds new possibilities in the form. The set list pulls from the first two studio albums by Little Big, while venturing a couple of new ideas that gesture in the direction of the band’s next release, which they’ll record later this month after a few NYC gigs.

I should pause here to acknowledge that Aaron is a friend — by which I mean, we know each other’s families, and keep in touch beyond the transactional bond of artist and critic. The story of how that friendship was forged is something I wrote about in this year-end essay for NPR Music, reflecting on the evident horrors and stealth blessings of 2020. I’m citing that piece again not only because I consider it one of my most searchingly honest pieces of criticism, but also because it provides some useful context for the conversation we had, which paying subscribers can hear below.

We talked about why Aaron decided to release Live in Berlin, and what it captures about the band at this point in its lifespan. We also touched on the particular quality he seeks in his compositions for the band — songness, he calls it, which makes total sense to me — and how Little Big has evolved since its 2018 debut. And if you’re wondering why Aaron would use Voice Memo when there are so many other options in the realm of portable recording technology, well, we get into that too.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. And if this is your stop, thanks for reading this far. (Check out Live in Berlin; I don’t think you’ll regret it.)

Have a great weekend!