Formulaic Improvisation & Charlie Parker’s Ornithology Motives
Whenever the term formulaic improvisation is mentioned with Bebop, I habitually try to close my eyes and visualize myself standing in front of the LEGO Imagination Centre in the Mall of America, suddenly an excited six-year-old again, overwhelmed by the limitlessness of what these tiny LEGO building blocks can construct.........(READ MORE)
Charlie Parker’s Nickname & Bebop Licks
Since we will be casually chatting about Charlie Parker’s nickname, I can’t help but think that this is a perfect cunning opportunity to admit, once and for all, that I am one of those “man without a nickname” (with mysterious organ music distantly sounded) kind of guys..........(READ MORE)
When Charlie Parker Met Stravinsky & Bird’s “Slonimsky” Motive
In a 1953 interview with Nat Hentoff for Down Beat magazine, Parker professed his love for Stravinsky’s music, uttering that “I first began listening seven or eight years ago. First I heard Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. In the vernacular of the streets, I flipped".............(READ MORE)
Charlie Parker and Western Classical Music & the Enclosure in Bebop Improvisation
Bird soon immersed himself in works by composers active in the first half of the twentieth-century. In addition to Igor Stravinsky, composers of Western classical music that Parker venerated included Béla Bartók, Claude Debussy, Paul Hindemith, Sergey Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schönberg..........(READ MORE)
Charlie Parker's Western Classical Music Quotations & Decorated Enclosure in Bebop Improvisation
Documented instances of quoting Western classical music in jazz can be traced back as early as the beginning of the twentieth century. Scholar Robert Brown singled out Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton, Paul Whiteman, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman...........(READ MORE)
Charlie Parker's Grave & Inverted Mordent in Bebop Improvisation
I chewed on A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J. D. Salinger and A Perfect Day for Kangaroos by Murakami Haruki last night like a squirrel’s last chestnut in the deep winter to prepare for this trip. My dream was about German Augmented Sixth Chord pirouetting with cream-colored acrylic plastic Grafton alto saxophone once played by Charlie Parker...........(READ MORE)
Charlie Parker and Substance Abuse
Jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker was not only the representative figure in the Bebop movement in terms of his musical exploration, but also in his continuous struggle with substance abuse. Evidently, the problem of substance abuse was pervasive during that period within the jazz community..............(READ MORE)
Charlie Parker & The KoKo Session
The KoKo session was one of those just-about-supernatural recording dates seemingly shrouded with overflowing magical elements.....The impact of this recording session was far-reaching as the commercial release of Parker’s music soon accelerated the revolution of modern jazz. Teddy Reig, the producer of this recording date, comments on the influence of the release, stating that “in maybe six months it was like The Bible"........(READ MORE)
Academic Studies of Charlie Parker’s Music
Jazz music, during its comparatively brief history of one hundred years, has continuously manifested its unparalleled energy by progressively reinventing itself and generating new variants that directly or indirectly reflect the development of music in general; the advancement of music technology, and the social interactions, conflicts, and inevitable transformations......(READ MORE)
Biographical Outline of Charlie Parker’s Life
Charles Parker, Jr. was born on August 29, 1920, at 852 Freeman St., Kansas City, Kansas. His father, Charles Parker, Sr., an African-American, was born in Mississippi and raised by Peter Parker, was an evangelist preacher, in Memphis, Tennessee. Parker Sr. earned his living as a touring entertainer on the vaudeville circuity..........(READ MORE)
DIALOGUE more ramblings about Jazz Improvisation and related subjects
Charlie Parker Bebop Blues Improvisation Etudes
Etude No. 1
Etude No. 2
The Annotated Bibliography of Analytical Studies of Charlie Parker’s Music
This annotated bibliography, limited to works written in English, is intended to serve as a partial index in the field of analytical studies of jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker’s improvisation technique, with additional emphasis on the identification of transcriptions of Parker’s improvisations. Ninety-eight entries are categorized into six classifications...........(READ MORE)
The Annotated Bibliography of Charlie Parker Related Articles in Down Beat Magazine
About 482-and-half days before configuring myself into a fully-boring attaché of music research machine to complete Charlie Parker: The Analytical Study of Twenty-Two Performance Versions of Now’s The Time, I was sitting in a dusky corner of the White Library, all alone, slowly browsing through countless rolls of ancient microfilms (pretending they were yummy dinner rolls), yawning, and secretly thinking about al dente spaghetti, grilled veggies, and Alfredo sauce all while maintaining a somewhat serious-looking posture..........(READ MORE)
The Charlie Parker Omnibook Reference Chart
Jamey Aebersold and Ken Slone’s collection of transcriptions, Charlie Parker Omnibook, consists of sixty jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker’s improvisations, documenting Parker's improvisational style from 1944 to 1953. Four editions are available, including the C instrument editions in treble-clef and in bass-clef, the B-flat instrument edition, and the E-flat instrument edition.......(READ MORE)
