Jazz Articles about Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker: The Complete Masters 1941-54

by Chris May
January 27, 2012

Charlie ParkerThe Complete Masters 1941-54Universal France2012 It is possible that more “complete" collections of the work of Charlie Parker have been released than there were recordings made by the saxophonist. And as you beat your way through the box set undergrowth, caution is required. Few of the collections are, in fact, complete, even within the parameters (complete live, complete studio, complete with strings, etc) by which they define themselves. In the ...

The Story Of Jazz Saxophone

by AAJ Staff
October 9, 2009

For some, the saxophone is the sound of jazz. The unique fusion of brass and woodwind that is the sax found an electrifying vibrato in the hands of jazzmen that truly changed the world. The pale “pure" tone of the instrument, as first used in classical compositions, vanished in a musical blast of slurs ( Coleman Hawkins and Johnny Hodges, occasional exciting “false-fingering" (Lester Young) and runs almost too fast, for some at the time, to listen to (Charlie Parker). ...

Charlie Parker: Bird in Time & Washington, DC, May 23, 1948

by Matthew Miller
August 2, 2009

Charlie Parker Bird in Time 1940-1947 ESP-Disk2008 Charlie Parker Washington DC, 1948 Uptown Jazz2008 In the liner notes to Washington, DC, 1948, Ira Gitler reaffirms an assessment made in his 1966 classic The Masters of Bebop: “The period of 1947-48 was the zenith of Charlie Parker's career and the time of his greatest influence," ...

Charlie Parker: Bird in Time 1940-1947

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 27, 2009

Ogni linguaggio musicale è il risultato di un'ampia elaborazione collettiva e il jazz non fa eccezione: a partire dal XVIII secolo diverse etnie europee e africane si sono trovate, volenti o nolenti, a condividere l'avventura della colonizzazione delle americhe. Nel territorio dei futuri Stati Uniti questa sintesi ha determinato ogni espressione musicale autoctona e cambiato il panorama sonoro del mondo in cui viviamo. A fronte di processi così ampi la mente umana cerca sempre un “creatore" che possa rendere più ...

Charlie Parker: Bird in Time 1940-1947

by Raul d'Gama Rose
May 5, 2009

Charlie ParkerBird in Time 1940-1947--Selected Recordings and Rare InterviewsESP-Disk2008 Let us now praise a famous ghost... embracing the spirit of Charlie Bird Parker.

They are like feathers fluttering down from a spirit up above. Bird feathers. I make haste to collect them as the settle around me forming words and music...a complete picture of the epiphany that came to some in an age when few dared to break the established mould. ...

Charlie Parker: Bird in Time 1940-1947: Selected Recordings and Rare Interviews

by Henry Smith
January 17, 2009

Charlie Parker is as mythic a figure as jazz has produced. His influence on the very form of the medium reconfigured the way music was approached in virtually all realms of practice. Yet, as Bird in Time 1940-1947: Selected Recordings and Rare Interviews reveals, his style did not arrive fully formed, but rather was worked toward through personal tenacity and the support of other musicians who shared in his vision.

This four-disc collection culls a bevy ...

Charlie Parker & Arne Domnerus: In Sweden - November 22, 1950

by David Rickert
November 9, 2008

Charlie Parker certainly had his share of imitators, some of whom adopted his destructive lifestyle in hopes that it was the key to his success. One who stayed clean became one of the best (and least known) of the Parker disciples: Arne Domnerus.  He was also fortunate enough to share a concert with Parker, released as In Sweden - November 22, 1950.  Although the two didn't play together, both sets are filled with intense, delicious bebop.