Yesterday, in Part 1 of this series, I posted on the five reasons why Charlie Parker was such an important jazz figure. I also posted about his first accomplishment, the invention of bebop with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945. Today, let's look at his second innovation—his ability to improvise complex lines at a high speed. Speed was essential to bebop for two major reasons. [Photo above of Charlie Parker and Tommy Potter on bass at the Three Deuces in August 1947, by William P. Gottlieb]
First, jam sessions held at Minton's Playhouse and Clark Monroe's Uptown House in Harlem in the early 1940s was a laboratory for bebop's inventors, a small group of superb musicians that included not only Parker and Gillespie but also Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke. Those who stood out on stage had a rare gift for intricate improvisation at a fast tempo. The result provided audiences with an electrifying thrill. Parker, fortunately, had heard Art Tatum play piano in 1939 in a restaurant where he worked for a time as a dishwasher, inspiring him to compose songs with fast tempos. [Photo above, from left, Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Teddy Hill in 1947, by William P. Gottlieb]
Second, high-speed, intricate improvisation also a was a defense strategy. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the blues was a folk form in the Deep South shared among Black musicians whose songs expressed the misery of field work, low wages, racism and injustice. [Photo above of Charlie Parker by William P. Gottlieb]
By the 1920s, with the rise of the recording industry, the blues moved into the recording studios of the North and West. But composers of blues songs found it impossible to join ASCAP and receive payment when others performed and recorded their music. The sole music-licensing agency kept most Black blues artists out through a tiered payment system. For its part, ASCAP feared losing the prestige built up through prolific white theater composers and the powerful leverage it had when seeking payment for the performance and recording of members' songs, especially after film began using sound in 1929.
ASCAP and many court cases viewed the blues as generic, not original music, so composers such as Jelly Roll Morton were denied ASCAP membership or were admitted only to ASCAP's lowest payout tier. As a result, Morton's many works, including King Porter Stomp, were recorded by dozens of white bands without having to pay fees. Later, historians discovered that ASCAP had actually collected the fees but never turned them over to Morton.
In short, Black blues musicians were cheated out of their art and payments because whites who controlled the collection of fees found a way to avoid doing so. In the '40s, bebop musicians were keenly aware of the larceny. To prevent their music and livelihood from winding up in the same boat, one defensive measure was to compose high-speed songs and improvise knotty melodies. [Photo above of Jelly Roll Morton]
Improvisation was impossible for others to rip-off, especially if complex and songs were fast. Not only were bop melodies and solos difficult to transcribe from records, they were impossible to duplicate. As for fees, once BMI was founded in 1939, jazz musicians were able to join and receive payments when their original bebop songs were performed or recorded, since BMI had an open-door policy when it came to membership, not a tiered payout system like ASCAP.
Which brings us to Charlie Parker, who played faster, more fluidly and more imaginatively than everyone else. His fleet, soulful, bluesy tone not only won audiences' hearts but also created a moat around his creative product and talent, making him virtually impervious to theft. [Photo above of Charlie Parker by William P. Gottlieb]
Here are Charlie Parker recordings with complex melodies and taken at a fast clip:
Here's Carvin' the Bird on February 26, 1947 for Dial in Hollywood, with Howard McGhee (tp), Charlie Parker (as), Wardell Gray (ts), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Barney Kessel (g), Red Callender (b) and Don Lamond (d)...
Here's Donna Lee for Savoy on May 8, 1947, with Miles Davis (tp), Charlie Parker (as), Bud Powell (p), Tommy Potter (b) and Max Roach (d)...
Here's Crazeology for Dial on December 17, 1947 with Miles Davis (tp), J.J. Johnson (tb), Charlie Parker (as), Duke Jordan (p), Tommy Potter (b) and Max Roach (d)...
Here's Bird Gets the Worm for Savoy on December 21, 1947, with Miles Davis (tp), Charlie Parker (as), Duke Jordan (p), Tommy Potter (b) and Max Roach (d)...
Here's Blues on Clef in April 1950, with Charlie Parker (as), Hank Jones (p), Ray Brown (b) and Buddy Rich (d)...
And here's Anthropology on March 31, 1951 at Birdland in New York, with Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Charlie Parker (as), Bud Powell (p), Tommy Potter (b) and Roy Haynes (d)...
Charlie Parker news. A bunch of Charlie Parker product is available now or coming this year:
Charlie Parker: His Music and Life, a revised edition by Carl Woideck, is out now from the University of Michigan Press. Go here.
Graphic novel. Z2 Comics will release the graphic novel, Chasin’ The Bird: Charlie Parker In California, which chronicles the story of Bird’s time in Los Angeles starting in December 1945. Go here.
Verve box. Later this year, Verve/UMe will release a vinyl box set of Parker’s complete Mercury and Clef 10” albums featuring David Stone Martin’s iconic illustrated covers. Charlie Parker: The Mercury & Clef 10-Inch LP Collection will include five extraordinary albums Parker recorded for Norman Granz’s pre-Verve imprints: Bird and Diz, Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker Plays South Of The Border, Charlie Parker With Strings and Charlie Parker With Strings (Vol. 2). The LPs will feature newly remastered audio from the original analog tapes and will include faithful reproductions of the classic artwork and packaging for the first time in more than six decades.
David Stone Martin. The cover art of several Parker album featuring David Stone Martin’s iconic illustrations are now available for purchase as archival quality, framed canvas prints exclusively via uDiscover. Go here.
Bird on Savoy. Craft Recordings will release The Original Savoy 10-inch Collection on CD in November. The collection, featuring newly restored and remastered audio, highlights Parker’s recordings for Savoy Records from 1944-1948. Previously released by Craft Recordings on LP earlier this year, the set features performances by jazz legends Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell, Max Roach and more. Go here.
Bird scores. For musicians wishing to investigate Parker’s music firsthand, Hal Leonard celebrates the 100th anniversary of Bird with the deluxe hardcover Charlie Parker: The Complete Scores book featuring note-for-note transcriptions of 40 classic performances for saxophones, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums. Go here.
