Leon Parker is over it. Born and raised in the U.S., where people are regularly reduced to a social-security number and a demographic check box, and where recycled cultural expression with the lowest common denominator receives more props than originality, Parker has had it with this country. The percussionist, composer and bandleader has now taken up residence somewhere in France (he didn’t want to disclose the exact location), to break free of social and cultural confinement and, as the title of his new Label M album suggests, live The Simple Life.
“It’s all about capitalism,” snaps Parker as he rips into a harsh analysis of “the land of the free.”
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