posted 23 January 2001 12:33 PM         

http://www.jazzpromo.com/realaudio/charlie-parker-part1.ram

http://www.jazzpromo.com/realaudio/charlie-parker-part2.ram

The two things that stood out for me was Parker saying he practiced 11 to 15 hours a day over a 3 or 4 year period. (There's that "P" word again: Practice) And, Parker felt jazz should always be done "clean and precise."

"Clean and precise" definitely describes Jernigan's approach to jazz.

The CD is wonderful as you would expect and you can buy from b0b on the Forum catalog and help support the Forum.

Frank

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1980 Black Emmons Push-Pull D-10 9+4 #2783D

posted 25 January 2001 11:18 AM         

Coincidentally, I saw number 8 of the PBS series on Jazz http://www.pbs.org/jazz/ on Alabama Public TV last night and much of it was about Charlie Parker's life and music. As many of you already know, he was an amazing and at the same time, tragic figure. He wore that body out in as little as 34 years.

Based on the music clips I heard on the program, I immediately know that I like his style. Too bad his life ended the way it did. At least we have Jernigan!

posted 25 January 2001 12:39 PM         

I was initially surprised at Frank's statement: " I like jazz, but I know nothing of Charlie Parker."

To me, the two are synonymous: Parker = Jazz = Parker.

But at one time I had no clue who Parker was either...

thinking about it, the only exposure some steelers ever get to anything remotely jazz is the playing of folks like Jernigan and Emmons who, while they may not be accepted by the "Jazz world," still acquit themselves quite nicely .

Meanwhile there are Jazz heads who look down their noses at Country Pickers, thereby depriving themselves of some pretty incredible MUSIC

I think it's great that Jernigan's playing inspired Frank to do research on Charlie Parker.

Going back to find the sources of inspiration for one's contemporary musical idols can be an eye opener. When I started learning about Parker, that in turn led me to Lester Young, Art Tatum, Lous Armstrong...

You just don't know what you don't know until you're informed.

Go Frank!! and thanks for sharing the links to the interviews.

[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 25 January 2001 at 12:41 PM.]

posted 25 January 2001 01:33 PM         

My real introduction to jazz was Hal Rugg's "Altered Ego" album. My all time favorite jazz albums are the two Jernigan has made. Buddy's Steel Guitar Jazz album from 1963 is also important. Paul has done some solos on jazz tunes that knock me out. Brent Mason's "Swing with a Sting" and O'Conner's "Swang" are examples.

The funny thing mentioned in the PBS show last night was when Charlie Parker's friends would see him listening to country music, such as Hank Sr. They asked him why was he listening to that 'awful stuff' and he told them because it has a story.

It is quite amazing how sober sounding and articulate Parker was in that interview. He was already addicted to heroin and alcohol and died that same year of pneumonia and liver disease. Unfortunately, those who idolized him thought the drugs would help them acquire Parker's genius. Obviously, they guessed wrong.

posted 25 January 2001 08:02 PM         

The best way to appriciate Bird is to listen to his recordings and realize that most of stuff he played was from a vocabulary that he invented. If the licks have a familiarity, it's because every other jazz musician after him incorporated that vocabulary, which formed the basis for modern jazz, even up to the present time. Every jazz player (of every instrument) owes the same debt to Charlie Parker that every E9 pedal steel player owes to Buddy Emmons and Jimmy Day.

posted 26 January 2001 11:05 AM         

It's debatable whether Parker would have gone on to do much more had he lived longer. He seemed to have gotten into a rut in his later years -- most of his outings were with a string section ("Bird with strings") and were not real inspired.

Buddy Emmons changed the way we think of steel by using it to play Bebop, and was very influenced by Parker, although he definitely has his own voice.

posted 26 January 2001 12:59 PM         

I do not know if there is a printed version of the interview. You may want to look around at http://www.jazzpromo.com/

posted 26 January 2001 07:07 PM         

quote:

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He was playing in some night club and while playing or trying to play a solo, the drummer(Jo Jones?) evidently thought he was so bad,he took his crash symbal of it's stand and tossed it out in the middle of the floor.

---

That scene was captured in the movie. It was one of the highlights of the film, I thought, because a couple of scenes and 8 years later, the big honcho saxman from that club (who was laughing at Parker along with the house band and audience) goes into a NYC club. The doorman tells him that there is this cool player, name of Charlie Parker. The big sax honcho says, "you mean Charlie from around here", which was the name Parker gave at that club where he was humiliated. Anyway, the big honcho just laughs again, goes into this smoke-filled room, with all the tables occupied, standing room only, and hears CP ripping into an otherworldly solo. The guys expression was priceless. A combination of wide-eyed awe, misery and dejection, absolutely stunned. A scene later, he is seen throwing his axe into a lake. Just a great scene. I may be inaccurate on a couple of points, but this was basically it. There is also a pretty, short-haired brunette, hip, withit, dancer (who eventually becomes his wife), knows her way around, likes musicians, who is told about this player. She asks the fellow who is describing him if he's good-looking. He says "he's not cute, but you'll dig him"!

[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 26 January 2001 at 07:17 PM.]

posted 26 January 2001 07:25 PM         

Charlie Parker is one of the most significant figures in music of the 20th century (or any other century). One of the things that you need to do when listening to Parker is to try to block out the thousands of people you have heard playing Charlie Parker inspired lines, and understand that Parker pretty much invented this approach to jazz.

In terms of the Jazz documentary, I have stopped watching. Too much focus on a small number of icons (Armstrong, Duke), on an instrument (the trumpet), and on race.

posted 26 January 2001 07:43 PM         

quote:

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In terms of the Jazz documentary, I have stopped watching. Too much focus on a small number of icons (Armstrong, Duke), on an instrument (the trumpet), and on race.

---

posted 27 January 2001 01:42 PM         

It seems unnatural for ear players to approach music this way, but the bottom line is, if you don't know/understand/work on modes, you'll never get past sounding "1944 BCP" (Before Charlie Parker).
Mike Cass is right, the "Charlie Parker Omnibook" is the Bebopper's Bible.
-John
edit: I have the book Jerry Gleason refers to. In it is this absolutely beautiful picture of Bird, Buddy Rich and Ray Brown, recording with the string section. I was all smiles when I discovered our own Mr. Gleason was responsible for retouching the photo in order to make it useable for the book.
- J

[This message was edited by John Steele on 27 January 2001 at 03:45 PM.]

posted 05 March 2001 09:11 AM         

I found a Parker CD at Best Buy on Saturday for only $10--"The Definitive Charlie Parker" Ken Burns Jazz from the PBS documentary. Anyway, it includes many of the tunes selected by the aforementioned Parker afficianado. Tunes included are: Sepian Bounce, Salt Peanuts, Hot House, Ko-Ko, Anthropology, Now's the Time, Orinthology, Yardbird Suite, Lover Man, Relaxin' at Carmarillo, Embraceable You, Scrapple from the Apple, Parker's Mood, Just Friends, Star Eyes, Confirmation. The CD makes it convenient to play selected tunes over and over!

I will check into that book mentioned by Mike Cass as well. Thanks for all the feedback.

Doug Jernigan mentioned he is working on "Donna Lee." I have not heard the tune, but it must be fast and complex for Jernigan to say he is having to learn to play it slowly first!

I guess you could say I have been a fan of Parker's music all along without realizing it!

posted 07 March 2001 11:31 AM         

But the head is something else and was considered difficult even by the great beboppers of the time.

posted 11 March 2001 11:53 PM         

I recommend "Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to Now." It's edited by Robert Gottlieb and published by Vintage. Mom, with her usual perceptiveness, sent it to me for Christmas.

As the title states, it is broken into three sections. With over one thousand pages, there is room for not only the well-knowns like Parker, Mingus, Basie, Ellington, and Satchmo, but also players like Mezz Mezzrow, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Barnet, Art Pepper, Anthony Braxton, and Cecil Taylor. There are wonderful--and tragic--chapters on Bird and Bill Evans. Mingus, ever the iconoclast, wrote his autobiography in the third person! And Mary Lou Williams' description of road life in the 30s and 40s really gave me an appreciation of just how hard it was to be a jazz musician then; as if just playing well wasn't difficult enough!

Gottlieb points out in his Introduction that "in some small informal way the book should reflect the history of jazz *writing* as well as the history of jazz."

This is a book you can dip into anywhere, and reread at will! And you don't have to be a jazz fan to identify with the stories.