Here’s a mid-century New York City story, one of many where Bebop and Modern European concert music share a moment together; both kinds of music were enjoying some vitality in New York during the early 1950s. Bird plays a supporting role here in a remembrance that’s primarily about composer/pedagogue Stefan Wolpe. During this era Wolpe had several composition students who were active in the Jazz world: George Russell, John Carisi, Eddie Sauter, Bill Finegan and others. Clarinetist/raconteur/all-around-hep-cat Tony Scott fills us in: “Stefan was my teacher and dear friend.[…] and we had some wonderful times together. I lived at 81 … Continue reading Tony Scott: Stefan Wolpe and Charlie Parker cross paths

From late 1949 to the end of his life Charlie Parker consistently played an unusual bronze metal saxophone mouthpiece marketed by the London branch of the Selmer Musical Instrument Company; mouthpiece historians call it the ‘Selmer London ff’ model.’ It was probably made by another company but stamped with the Selmer London name – something called a stencil in the musical marketing world. The main Selmer Company based in Paris had nothing to do with this peculiar model; it apparently was only made for a few years. What did it sound like? For an answer, listen to Bird’s incredible rich … Continue reading That Mouthpiece

In the early 1950s, a jazz disc jockey named Leigh Kamman had a show on WOV in New York City called, “The 1280 Club.” One day while on the air he called Charlie Parker at home for a surprise impromptu interview. The audio of this new interview surfaced on YouTube recently and what a treat it is to hear! Out of the blue, in this painful and difficult year 2020, we get a loud and clear message from Bird about an artist’s priorities . It’s critical to know how this interview fits into the context of Bird’s life. From 1952 … Continue reading A Breath of Fresh Air from 1954! or, Bird Gives You a Summer Listening List

Charlie Parker is the subject of a graphic novel by Dave Chisholm that will be released in September by Z2 Comics. It’s called “Charlie Parker – Chasin’ The Bird – Charlie Parker in California” and it will be available in … Continue reading A Very 21st Century Validation for a 20th Century Musical Innovator

Keven Sun has posted two long articles on Bird at his website, A Horizontal Search. Charlie Parker on Confirmation 1949-51 is a fascinating story told through transcriptions, source recordings, and detailed commentary. Charlie Parker on Fine and Dandy 1947-1953 is a long good look – also with transcriptions, recordings and comments – at all extant recordings of Bird’s playing on that standard tune. As usual, Sun’s transcriptions are expertly laid out and very accurate. Dig in! Continue reading Kevin Sun transcriptions of Charlie Parker solos

“The one entrée to the group was talent…people who later on were talented were welcomed. It didn’t last, but it was the prevailing feeling at the time, a feeling of great openness, you know. I don’t know what the cause of that was particularly, but, one thing, it was like Charlie Parker was the center of that. And I think it was his spirit, and generous spirit, that encouraged very much this community feeling around what was happening mainly because of him.” The time is May 1945, the place is New York City, and composer/drummer George Russell had just moved … Continue reading George Russell’s arrangement of “Relaxin’ at Camarillo”

Here’s a standard by Suesse and Coslow that came and went in 1939. Artie Shaw recorded it (with a vocal by Helen Forrest), a few other bands gave it a try, but it never gained traction in the popular music scene. The song is posted here because the repeated phrase that starts the melody was used by Charlie Parker when he recorded Embraceable You for Dial records on 10/28/47. The first take – the A take – was something of a jukebox hit for Bird at the time, and occasionally he would use the phrase in live performances of the … Continue reading A Table in the Corner

When Art Taylor set out to record the interviews with his colleagues that were later published as Notes and Tones, he says, “[I] made it a point to discuss Charlie Parker and Bud Powell extensively with everyone I interviewed because I was trying to get as much accurate information about them as possible.” Here are Kenny Dorham’s reminiscences of Bird as published in the book. “I was living up on Sugar Hill at 157th Street, and Harry Belafonte, who was working at the Royal Roost with Bird, came by one day to let me know that Bird wanted to speak … Continue reading Kenny Dorham: Bird Painting the Town Red in Milwaukee