What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Joseph K]

For me, it is the musical aspect of Parker than is interesting.

I agree. The Carl Woideck book then should be of interest - its first 50 pages are a biographical sketch, then the remaining 170+ pages are devoted to Parker's music.

[Jazzrook]

The clip is absolutely staggering and the sound quality is amazing.

When I was a teenager getting in to jazz , I had to discover Charlie Parker on my own because my Dad did not care for Bebop. However, because I was brought up listening to jazz from the 30s and 40s Parker's innovations were more apparent than if I have worked my way back to his music. Parker became a bit of an obsession for me and the whole feel of jazz from the mid-40's onwards seemed like a real step change. Trying to put on finger on the point at which the music changed was always something that fascinated me. It still seems to have an aura of magic about it.

These days I find that my opinion of Charlie Parker has changed. The occasional track like that posted is exciting but I have a 3-CD set amongst my collection and find that it can be a hard listen over the duration as there is so little variety, especially with the unison horn lines which become monotonous after a while. . In the end, I can really appreciate why Parker felt burnt out and wanted to take lessons with Edgar Varese. The music all ideas he had were almost too great for the jazz of the time to absorb. I would also have to say that having tried playing some Parker transcriptions, they have a stand alone quality about them akin to Bach cello suites. They are extremely well structured. Even more amazing is how Parker played phrases against Latin rhythms. Not sure if anyone have the Parker Latin Aebersold play-a-long but this is almost impossible to play because of the accent of the beats.

The major negative thing about Parker was that of all the great , innovative geniuses in jazz (Armstrong, Young, Hawkins, Ellington, Monk, Coltrane, Ornette, etc) , he is the only one that I feel never fulfilled his potential. It is easy to forget that he was only about 25 in the clip posted and most of his best work was done before he was 30. It would have been interesting to see what he could have achieved and where his music might have gone in the 1960s. Imagine how good the music would have been with Herbie, Ron Carter and Tony Williams backing him and how inspired Parker would have been by a harmonic player like Hancock. I think that Parker was too far ahead of his contemporaries and was perhaps frustrated by the musical constraints in jazz at the time. Myabe the closest to where he could have been was perhaps Cannonball with Miles ?

Charlie Parker & Brew Moore with Paul Bley Quartet in Montreal 1953:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1rQ3dyOfuA

JR

[Stanfordian]

‘My Conception’ - Sonny Clarke
Sonny Clarke with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Art Farmer, Paul Chambers & Art Blakey
Blue Note (1957/59)

[Joseph K]

Currently listening to this.

[eighthobstruction]

Currently listening to this.

....tremendous piano on Night in T'....genius mic....tone....perfect sound....

[Joseph K]

The first disk of Sonny Rollins: The Prestige Years, which arrived today.

[Serial_Apologist]

....tremendous piano on Night in T'....genius mic....tone....perfect sound....

From memory, three tracks from this were issued on one side of a very worn LP I found outside a house among rubbish with a sign saying "Please help yourself", many years ago. On the other side were tracks from Dizzy's hilarious Salle Pleyel concert(s) of 1953. Some of the ideas in Parker's solos were pretty far out for the time, even for him. I always think he later finessed his improvising vocabulary, ditching some of those ideas in a process of self-standardisation that possibly accounts for the opinions of some that his most creative period was from around the 1945-47 period, after which he tended to repeat himself, helping explain the desire to study with a figure from outside the field such as Varese.

[Joseph K]

The first disk of Sonny Rollins: The Prestige Years, which arrived today.

The tune 'Shadrack' is alarmingly reminiscent of 'Mr P.C' - or rather, presages the latter.

[Serial_Apologist]

Charlie Parker & Brew Moore with Paul Bley Quartet in Montreal 1953:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1rQ3dyOfuA

JR

Really fascinating, this. I'd known that Paul Bley had played with Bird, but not realised it had been recorded.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Really fascinating, this. I'd known that Paul Bley had played with Bird, but not realised it had been recorded.

I remember an interview with Paul Bley where he said Charlie Parker was easily the loudest & most "projective" saxophone player he ever heard or played with. Interesting in that a player like Hank Mobley was apparently quite quiet and relied a lot on the mike.

[Serial_Apologist]

I remember an interview with Paul Bley where he said Charlie Parker was easily the loudest & most "projective" saxophone player he ever heard or played with. Interesting in that a player like Hank Mobley was apparently quite quiet and relied a lot on the mike.

I remember a story to the effect that those sudden spectacular fast runs Bird would produce at performances were often done as he was stalking along the front of the stage after some women he fancied, walking making her way across the front of the stalls. Maybe apocryphal - it was in the film "Bird", after all.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I remember a story to the effect that those sudden spectacular fast runs Bird would produce at performances were often done as he was stalking along the front of the stage after some women he fancied, walking making her way across the front of the stalls. Maybe apocryphal - it was in the film "Bird", after all.

Sounds a bit like the story of Berlioz, playing Timps in a concert attended by Harriet Smithson, and adding impressive flourishes to attract her attention - whether they were part of the Music or not!

[Jazzrook]

Charlie Parker & The Stars of Modern Jazz(HI HAT HH 3030CD) with Red Rodney, Al Haig, Tommy Potter & Roy Haynes at Carnegie Hall, Xmas Eve, 1949:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orXq-8EbfYA

http://www.odmcy.com/catalog/index.php/catalogue/15-hi-hat-cds/489-charlie-parker-the-stars-of-modern-jazz-christmas-eve-at-carnegie-hall-1949-cd

JR

[Stanfordian]

‘Plus’ - Cannonball Adderley
Cannonball Adderley with Nat Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Victor Feldman, Sam Jones & Louis Hayes
Riverside (1961)

[Serial_Apologist]

Charlie Parker & The Stars of Modern Jazz(HI HAT HH 3030CD) with Red Rodney, Al Haig, Tommy Potter & Roy Haynes at Carnegie Hall, Xmas Eve, 1949:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orXq-8EbfYA

http://www.odmcy.com/catalog/index.php/catalogue/15-hi-hat-cds/489-charlie-parker-the-stars-of-modern-jazz-christmas-eve-at-carnegie-hall-1949-cd

JR

Red Rodney is the only person I have met who actually worked with Parker. Does anyone else have any Bird connection stories. Someone on here must've talked to Max Roach or Art Blakey?