Charlie Parker

Listening to this morning's Birdflight on WKCR.

This being President's Day, Phil is goofing a bit and bringing in "Pres" - the nickname of the tenor saxist Lester Young - into the conversation.

Lester was one of the few - but important - antecedents of Bird on saxophone. Bird acknowledged this with his horn by quoting melodic fragments from Lester solos onto his solo on the Gershwin tune "Lady Be Good".

(Lester Young: Lady Be Good 1st version "Jones-Smith Inc." w/Count Basie Feb '37. Chu Berry subbed for an ill tenor player and is recorded as well.)

Bird quotes on a rare recording of him playing unaccompanied solo tenor sax. Never heard that before.

Eddie Jefferson added Lyrics to the actual solo notes Bird played on another version of "Lady Be Good" and called it "Disappointed".

So Phil was playing these all back to back and it gave me the idea that musical ideas are a form of currency.

They can be collected and re-used as seen fit. But you have to - at some point - mint your own ideas. Simple ongoing quoting of someone else is a form of counterfeit and transgressors should be punished accordingly.

The real point here being that Bird - never being short of ideas or places to go - decides to enshrine his heroes by playing short phrases by them into his own microphone.

It's like saying, "Thanks, guys. Now check out what else I can do:"