"I put quite a bit of study into the horn, that's true. In fact, the neighbors threatened to ask my mother to move out once when we were living out West. She said I was driving them crazy with the horn. I used to put in at least 11 to 15 hours a day. I did that for over a period of three to four years."
—Charlie Parker, from a 1954 Boston radio interview with fellow saxophonist Paul Desmond
Marc--I just played that interview on the air yesterday! Sat in for our weekday jazz jock (who'd been planning a Bird special) and reconstructed the broadcast (it's available on BIRD'S EYES V. 8) by playing the interview in segments and dropping in the musical sides they put on. Bird did that interview during a one-week stand at the Hi Hat in January 1954; some of his performances from that week are available on Uptown's CHARLIE PARKER: BOSTON 1952 cd (which also contains a great set from '52 with Joe Gordon on trumpet, Dick Twardzik on piano, Charles Mingus on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums...how's that for a lineup?)
Posted by: David Brent Johnson | August 24, 2007 at 11:46 AM