Bird

[alan]

I'm on a big Charlie Parker kick. Anyone else dig the Bird? His solos are like mental freedom. I can't get enough. What Khamma did he have! Go, baby, go!

[mikenz66]

Yes, Bird worked magic. Such skill, such musical confidence. I sometimes get a sort of visual feeling from his solos - like he's drawing lines in the air...

As one of my sons (who plays sax) says, he doesn't sound quite so original to modern ears simply because everyone has assimilated his lines (Shakespeare has the same problem...), so they don't sound so radical anymore. Also, he died before the the advent of the modern scales developed by, for example, the Miles Davis bands of the 60s.

Pity about the rest of his short life. I'm not sure if was apocryphal, but one of the lines I remember most from Clint Eastwood's movie (Bird) is where he catches one of his band members shooting heroin:
"You know it doesn't help you play better?"
"Yes, I know that ---- now."

Metta
Mike

[mikenz66]

Miles Davis & Charlie Parker - A Night in Tunisia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShLzrUM1 ... re=related
Charlie Parker - All the things you are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTORd2Y_ ... re=related
Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkvCDCOG ... re=related

Mike

[mikenz66]

Bird died before I was born, but I did see this rather talented young lady in a Paris club a couple of months ago...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7d4wc ... trio_music

Mike

[alan]

So true. Heroin killed him. But even now the sonic awareness he created lives on. Although most of it is poorly recorded for our modern ears, I've found it a real blessing to go back and listen to the originals. Savoy, Dial. Verve. Incredible music.
(Besides that, your son might also want to listen to Sonny Stitt. Good stuff).

[alan]

Wow Mike you respond faster than I can type. How do you do it?

[zavk]

Wow Mike you respond faster than I can type. How do you do it?

Now we know his SUPERPOWER.