Bird

Just sitting here listening to the ipod.

It's playing Charlie Parker from the complete Dial sessions.

Just heard Relaxin' At Camarillo. And now a tune called "Cheers". Bird was just amazing - as soon as he puts two notes together, it immediately just feels great. He's saying something not only with the harmonic vocabulary of his lines, but with the rhythmic way in which he presents those lines. It has an attitude. A strut.

It's like, "I'm gonna say exactly what I want to say, in exactly the way I want to say it". Other guys on the date take solos too, but it's just not the same.

His playing didn't come completely out of nowhere (no pun). It wasn't totally without precedent. Listen to Coleman Hawkins punish a string of eighth notes. Or even the flow Lester Young's lines. Bird was around alot of great musicians in his early days.

Parker grew up in Kansas City in the 1930's (B. AUG 29, 1920) and at that time, the city was run by Tom Pendergast who was basically the Boss Tweed of KC. There were all kinds of saloons, gambling, prostitution, and of course along with all this vice, there had to be musicians supplying a beat.

Music was changing then. The world was changing then. Post WWI.

The music of Swing Bands and Big Bands was evolving from African and European roots to become it's own thing.

Anyway, easy to digress.

I think I just wanted to rave about Bird.