Bird

Today marks what would be the 85th birthday of my absolute favorite Jazz Musician of all-time; Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. I still remember the first recording of him that I heard. It was on my mother’s computer, using Microsoft Encarta. The song was Perdido and it was from a 1951 recording (which was taken at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, and is now revered as the Greatest Jazz Concert of All-Time). I replayed it and replayed it and replayed it. In fact, when I hear the recording now, I still get nostalgic; I still feel the same sublime delight that I felt that day when I first discovered it. That was probably 8 or 9 years ago, and yet today that sound is what I strive for whenever I pick up my horn.

Who is Charlie Parker, you ask? Well, he is often considered the 2nd most influential musician in the history of this nation’s first original music art form (Jazz), after Trumpeter Louis Armstrong. In fact, the sound that most people today consider to be jazz music was concocted by Charlie Parker (along with a couple others) some 60+ years ago. His influence endures much longer than he lived.

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1920. At a young age, he took an extreme liking to music, and actually played the Baritone in school. He later gained a great appreciation for the alto saxophone, and began woodshedding (a musicians term for practicing) his sound. In fact, it has been said that he practiced his saxophone for 15 hours a day, everyday (and if you’ve ever heard him, you totally believe that; I know I do!). At age 15 he dropped out of school to pursue a musical career, and several years later, in New York City, he’d finally hit his stride.

Well before he made his name in NYC, however, a terrible tragedy occurred. Parker was in a car accident that landed him in the hospital. While there, to ease the pain, Bird (as he was often called) was given Morphine. As a result, Bird gained an affinity for the drug, and its drug cousin, Heroine. The marriage of Charlie Parker and Heroine would begin an era of Heroine drug use in the United States (yo…no lie…I saw it on the History channel), and would be a major influence on other musicians at the time. His Heroine and Alcohol abuse would eventually lead to his very early demise.

From 1942 until his death in 1955, Bird made hundreds and hundreds of amazing 3 and 4 minute songs. His lightning fast approach, unencumbered chord attacks, and tasteful tone were unsurpassed and maybe only matched by his close friend (Trumpeter) Dizzy Gillespie. He could play any song at any tempo and in any key. Every sax player wanted to be EXACTLY like him. It was the biggest compliment in the world to be told that you were copying Bird, or that you sounded just like him.

He died at the age of 34, with his extensive substance abuse problem being the cause of death. His body was so badly misused and abused that the coroner had estimated his age at 55 years old.

Unfortunately, I think that in order for Jazz to progress, it was necessary for him to die when he did. Without his death at that time, there would’ve been no John Coltrane or Miles Davis (at least, not like we know them). Coltrane brought with him the use of the extended solo and altissimo (the ability to play shriekingly high pitched tones on the Sax). Davis, who got his start in Bird’s quintet, also revolutionized Jazz in various ways. Even Bird’s compatriot Dizzy expanded his repertoire after Parker’s death. Charlie’s stature was so large that I tend to believe that he would’ve dictated the direction of Jazz, which might’ve limited some of the events that later shaped and expanded the horizons of Jazz in the decades following his departure.

Drug user, womanizer, alcoholic, and undependable. All these terms have been used to describe Yardbird. Be that as it may, this guy is my musical hero. I can listen to 3 notes of Parker music on the radio and I’ll know exactly what song is playing. I can verbally recite dozens and dozens of his solos note for note (although I can only play a handful of them due to their complexity). I can even remember when I heard each solo for the first time. And I’ll never forget that first double cassette that my friend dubbed for me years and years ago (remember tapes and “dubbing” music, instead of CD’s and “burning” it?).

Among the most important lessons that I’ve learned from Bird is in the essence of a statement that he once made. He said that “if you don’t live the life, then the sound won’t come out of the horn.” Unfortunately, many musicians already believed it and thus began crucial Heroine habits that put many of them out of work or landed them in jail (they thought that if they did drugs like Bird, then they could play like Bird). Fortunately his death caused some musicians, like Miles Davis and Trumpeter Red Rodney, to kick the habit. And though alcohol use is still a big deal in Jazz today, I’d contend that serious drug abuse has since ebbed.

Another lesson that he taught me was in reference to the concept of music. He didn’t like the term Jazz or Bebop, as his music was called. He could be heard playing over the top of orchestras or being backed up by congas and timbales. He recorded with organists and many singers. Nothing was out of his range of musical ability. Other musicians sometimes criticized him for showing up at bars and playing Country music from Juke boxes. To him though, it was ALL music, and if it told a story, then it was beautiful.

I wish I could talk to him, meet him, listen to him in person. I wonder what kind of knowledge he would impart upon me. I wonder did he have any limitations. Was he able to play altissimo with the same proficiency as his successor John Coltrane? What would he have played and what would he have done if he had a whole album full of extended solos?

I wish I could get his sound, but maybe I can’t because I certainly don’t live the fast, tumultuous lifestyle that he lived (and I certainly don’t have the 15 hours a day to practice as he did). I wish I could at least play all the “Heads” or “Themes” that he wrote if not the solos as well. Yet when I practice, it takes forever just to get 8 counts correct. But every once in a while, I here some of his phrasings creeping out of my horn and I say to myself, “hey, I sounded like Charlie Parker!” And you know I’m happy when that happens.

One day, I hope that someone makes another Charlie Parker movie that would do him and his legacy more justice (Clint Eastwood made one in 1987 which featured Forrest Whitaker as Bird). And not only that, I wish that they'd call me in to help out with its production, because as his biggest fan, I know I deserve that much.

No matter what, I certainly hope that Bird’s music continues to fly well into this new millennium!

Happy Birthday Bird!

-Maelstrom