Born in Chicago, Chris was playing drums at age three and began performing his first professional gigs at eleven. At nineteen, Parker began recording and touring with blues great Paul Butterfield and then broke into the New York studio scene in 1970,doing records, movie scores and filling the drum chair at Saturday Night Live.
Toph, as friends know him, recorded platinum, gold and Grammy winning albums and CDs with many artists,including the original Brecker Brothers, Bob Dylan, Cher, Natalie Cole, Donald Fagen, Ashford and Simpson, Aretha Franklin, Freddie Hubbard, James Brown, Salt ‘n’ Pepa, Stuff, Miles Davis, Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Michael Franks, Lionel Hampton,Eddie Palmieri,Gato Barbieri,Ivan Lins,Jane Duboc,Billie Holiday,Tony Bennett,Jon Secada,Don Covay and Quincy Jones who has written liner notes for the latest cd,”Blue Print.”
Currently leading his own band,the Chris Parker Trio with Kyoko Oyobe,piano and Ameen Saleem,bass,Parker has just recorded “Blue Print,” a new cd dedicated to Arif Mardin and produced by Arif’s son, Joe.This new work features Randy Brecker,on three tracks as well as Parker’s original compositions.