JAZZ REVIEW
McPherson captures a `Bird' in flight at Jazz Showcase
By Howard Reich Tribune arts critic Published August 6, 2004
Half a century later, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker's seismic musical breakthroughs still rumble through our culture.
One way or another, every jazz artist must come to terms with Parker's harmonic and rhythmic innovations, which ventured far beyond the formulas of the swing era (even while building upon them).
So it's perfectly fitting that this week, the Jazz Showcase launches “Charlie Parker Month," in which all the headliners will pay homage to “Bird." That this year's celebration marks the club's 48th annual Parker celebration says a great deal about the enduring value of this music.
So did alto saxophonist Charles McPherson's volatile performance Tuesday night, opening a weeklong run. McPherson -- one of Parker's truest disciples -- captured the urgency of Parker's idiom without dipping into mere nostalgia. In effect, McPherson and his propulsive Chicago rhythm section tried to recapture some of the initial excitement that this muscular, extroverted music must have conveyed in the 1940s and early '50s. You could hear it in the audacity of their tempos, the energy of their solos and the vividness of their delivery.
At the same time, though, the quartet kept the music fresh, thanks to the generally gleaming, contemporary quality of McPherson's tone and the leanness and economy of the other players' work.
The terms of McPherson's approach were clear from the outset, when he and the band ripped through “Billie's Bounce," a Parker anthem that remains a test of a virtuoso's improvisational mettle. Taking an aggressive tempo and pushing it at every turn, McPherson attained a ferocious rhythmic momentum recalling the work of Parker and other first-generation bebop players.
With pianist Ron Perrillo articulating brilliant right-hand runs, drummer George Fludas hitting offbeats hard and bassist Dennis Carroll nimbly articulating the low notes, this band proved uncommonly conversant with classic bebop language.
The quartet outdid itself on the old standard “Spring Is Here," transforming a longing ballad into a bouncing, ebullient vehicle for ever more complex rhythmic eruptions. Yes, the melody emerged at key points, but it was the intricacies of McPherson's alto lines and the relentless inventiveness of Perrillo's pianism that clinched the performance. Inspired by McPherson's penchant for fast tempos and faster chord changes, Perrillo offered particularly creative solos. Alternating running lines with bluesy chords, punctuating quirky riffs with splashes of dissonance, Perrillo proved a nearly ideal foil for McPherson's hard-hitting statements.
Even bebop fans sometimes forget the blues roots of this music -- at least in Parker's view of it -- but McPherson italicized the point. In a rough-and-raunchy roadhouse blues, McPherson alternated crying, shrieking phrases with flurries of fast-flying notes, sometimes within the course of a single measure.
It was an exuberant way to open “Charlie Parker Month" and vibrantly set the stage for the performances yet to come.
Long live Bird.
McPherson captures a `Bird' in flight at Jazz Showcase
By Howard Reich Tribune arts critic Published August 6, 2004
Half a century later, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker's seismic musical breakthroughs still rumble through our culture.
One way or another, every jazz artist must come to terms with Parker's harmonic and rhythmic innovations, which ventured far beyond the formulas of the swing era (even while building upon them).
So it's perfectly fitting that this week, the Jazz Showcase launches “Charlie Parker Month," in which all the headliners will pay homage to “Bird." That this year's celebration marks the club's 48th annual Parker celebration says a great deal about the enduring value of this music.
So did alto saxophonist Charles McPherson's volatile performance Tuesday night, opening a weeklong run. McPherson -- one of Parker's truest disciples -- captured the urgency of Parker's idiom without dipping into mere nostalgia. In effect, McPherson and his propulsive Chicago rhythm section tried to recapture some of the initial excitement that this muscular, extroverted music must have conveyed in the 1940s and early '50s. You could hear it in the audacity of their tempos, the energy of their solos and the vividness of their delivery.
At the same time, though, the quartet kept the music fresh, thanks to the generally gleaming, contemporary quality of McPherson's tone and the leanness and economy of the other players' work.
The terms of McPherson's approach were clear from the outset, when he and the band ripped through “Billie's Bounce," a Parker anthem that remains a test of a virtuoso's improvisational mettle. Taking an aggressive tempo and pushing it at every turn, McPherson attained a ferocious rhythmic momentum recalling the work of Parker and other first-generation bebop players.
With pianist Ron Perrillo articulating brilliant right-hand runs, drummer George Fludas hitting offbeats hard and bassist Dennis Carroll nimbly articulating the low notes, this band proved uncommonly conversant with classic bebop language.
The quartet outdid itself on the old standard “Spring Is Here," transforming a longing ballad into a bouncing, ebullient vehicle for ever more complex rhythmic eruptions. Yes, the melody emerged at key points, but it was the intricacies of McPherson's alto lines and the relentless inventiveness of Perrillo's pianism that clinched the performance. Inspired by McPherson's penchant for fast tempos and faster chord changes, Perrillo offered particularly creative solos. Alternating running lines with bluesy chords, punctuating quirky riffs with splashes of dissonance, Perrillo proved a nearly ideal foil for McPherson's hard-hitting statements.
Even bebop fans sometimes forget the blues roots of this music -- at least in Parker's view of it -- but McPherson italicized the point. In a rough-and-raunchy roadhouse blues, McPherson alternated crying, shrieking phrases with flurries of fast-flying notes, sometimes within the course of a single measure.
It was an exuberant way to open “Charlie Parker Month" and vibrantly set the stage for the performances yet to come.
Long live Bird.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
