Reading the Steely Dan dictionary (thanks to UnderAGlassMoon for the link!) I came across 'Mr. Parker" (as in 'Mr. Parker's Band') and the entry piqued my curiosity. How accurate is the Clint Eastwood film 'Bird'? is it worth watching? Also, where is a good place to start with Parker's discography? Or just tell me what his best records are and I'll choose something not on that list. I'd rather work up to the best stuff. I know it's subjective; just asking for a little guidance.
The Eastwood movie depicts the final days of Parker. I find it depressing...
I've never been a big follower of his music as I prefer a later jazz period. I believe I only own a couple of compilation records of him and Diz. I'm sure you'll get plenty of recommendations in this thread though.
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
the only jazz I know I like is Lounge Lizards, Flat Earth Society and some John Zorn. Based on hearing about Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" I gave that a few minutes but I guess I didn't 'get' it.
The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes.Originally Posted by davis
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
The film is white boy romanticism, fetishizing Parker's drug and emotional problems. Pass.
Get any of Parker's Dial and Savoy studio recordings. I dig the "live" stuff from the Pershing, St. Nick's, and in Washington.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
anybody seen this?
Celebrating Bird: Charlie Parker1987 NR 59 minutes
Jazz great Charlie "Bird" Parker receives his due as other incredible jazz musicians recurse his career highlights in this moving documentary. The film's collection of footage showcases many of Bird's finest recordings. Through interviews and clips, Parker contemporaries Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk celebrate the life and times of the brilliant saxophonist, whose life was cut short at age 34 as a result of heroin use.
It's a lot in terms of an overview, but yes.
Or just a good best of from that period.
Beware of the later, Verve period stuff. Not bad, but also (mostly) without that fire.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
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"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Like many jazz musicians of the '40s and '50s Parker got hooked on dope. It wasn't what he was about.
If you want to celebrate what was good about him, just listen to his music and ignore the Eastwood movie (and Jamie Foxx's movie about Ray Charles too).
What a bizarre approach.
That said, the sides with Miles are a good starting point.
It doesn't really work this way with Parker, because he straddled a technological era and so much of his recorded work was not made for an LP. The two best known Parker albums-as-such are probably Parker with Strings and Massey Hall. I guess you could avoid those until later, but most hard-core Parker enthusiasts would probably not name those as their top 2 or 3 favorites by him, anyway. Like the others in this thread so far, I would start with the Dial and Savoy stuff.
If your familiarity with jazz fairly low, I would have to think that much of what made Parker a sensation at the time will probably be lost on you, at least initially, simply because so much of that was due to his embodying a style that was a break from what had come before. Which is not to say that you won't love it anyway (and possibly inspire more jazz listening) so certainly give it a try.
FWIW, if sound quality is a big issue, then you'll probably want to stick with the LPs of the '50s, rather than the comps of the sessions from the '40s.
AND additionally you may not hear what made him such a sensation because what he did has been so utterly incorporated into jazz, that it is hard to believe that this one guy made all these changes to jazz as we know it today.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
It doesn't make sense to me to bust a cherry on what might be considered someone's best work - anything you listen to after that might be disappointing. by 'best" I don't mean 'best of' or 'greatest hits' comps (e.g., from Steely Dan's Greatest Hits, I went on to buy everything through Gaucho). If someone was Dylan-curious, I would recommend stuff other than Highway 61 or Blood on the Tracks, dig?
This ^
Some of my favorite stuff by anyone, ever. Still.
But that's what you're going to get here. Charlie Parker released mostly 78s during his lifetime. There were albums on Verve in the early 50s but that was later work, generally not held in such esteem.
I wouldn't say the music has lost that much potency. I think tracks like 'Koko' and 'A Night In Tunisia', to name but two, still sound great. The way they were recorded hasn't aged so well- recorded straight to disc as opposed to tape- but that can't be helped.
The best bargain for me was that JSP box of the early sessions, plus all the Dial and Savoy masters called 'A Studio Chronicle'- it was very cheap when I got it. Some have ethical issues with these public domain releases, which is fair enough. It's a judgement call. There was another one which cast an even wider net on Proper called 'Boss Bird' but that seems to be out of print and I've never had it.
^ ^
JSP set is a great way to start.
Really good sound - as good as you are going to squeeze out of these shellac masters.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
ethical issues about public domain releases? educate me on just what that means.
JSP does great things...their Armstrong stuff is precious.
After a certain period, copyright runs out on recordings. That period has been extended in the UK to 70 years for recordings after 1963 (It was 50 years), but it basically means any old company can put these recordings out without fear of reprisal.
And I would reiterate that even if such a thing was a good idea in principle, it doesn't work with Charlier Parker. Your best bet is get a multi-disc comp of his 40s material and dig into it.
That notwithstanding, I have no idea why anybody would advise someone who wants to get into Bob Dylan to avoid Highway 61. That or Blonde on Blonde would probably be the first place I directed them. Planet Waves and Oh Mercy can probably wait.
What Walt said! There are also some firey live recordings, but the sound quality could make it hard for some to enjoy.
As others have said already, it's a depressing film, focusing on his drug addiction and other problems during the last years of his life, when he was really coming apart. Clint Eastwood is a huge jazz fan and loves Charlie Parker, but he could've done a much better job of celebrating his life. Also, I thought Forest Whitaker was miscast as Bird; he didn't have the sexual magnetism and sense of humor Bird was famous for.
I remember Ebert and Siskel reviewing the film after it came out and Siskel stated that the film didn't explain why Bird was regarded as a genius. I thought, "just listen to the music!" But I suppose if you're not a jazz lover, you might not get that. And as you implied, Steve, everybody copied him... or tried to anyway. By today's standards, his playing might seem kind of accessible and "inside," but it was very radical for the time.
I never tire of listening to him myself.
Last edited by No Pride; 12-10-2014 at 03:36 PM.
Charlie Parker and Charlie Christian's revolutions (on jazz overall and saxophone playing in the case of CP and on the guitar in the case of CC) are so completely absorbed into the sound of jazz for the last 50-60 years that it's impossible for a casual listener to hear why they are revolutionary precisely because they sound a lot like everyone that came after them.
That's how revolutionary they were.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
I may put a Charlie Parker station on pandora and isolate it and just listen. or check out something you folks have suggested.
If I don't count hearing PP&M's 'Blowin in the Wind' on the Grants (dept store) PA system when I was a kid, my introduction to Dylan was Greatest Hits Vol 2. I fell in love with it. actually, I think the first album and then Good as I Been To You or World Gone Wrong are a good start because those records explore his roots - as an appetizer so to speak. I never said avoid HWY 61 of BOB (I also never said I'm conventional); working up to them makes sense to me. Or maybe go chronologically and discuss each album before going on to the next. There are various ways to explore the catalog.
Last edited by davis; 12-10-2014 at 04:18 PM.
There's always YouTube:
Not a bad way to go. You could also check out some of Louis Armstrong's smaller-ensemble recordings from the 20s. You'll get a sense of the kind of the then-revolutionary music that grew into what Charlie Parker's style diverged from.
I'm not very familiar with 'everyone that came after them' so I'm not sure how that would affect me. I grew up hearing my dad's Benny Goodman records and didn't know of Charlie Christian until maybe 10 years ago. I was astonished when I found out last year that Christian worked with Goodman & orchestra.
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