bird: life and sounds of charlie parker ap music theory, mr. ubovich, july 24, 2007 matt louie “in...
TRANSCRIPT
Bird: life and sounds of Charlie Parker
Bird: life and sounds of Charlie Parker
AP Music Theory, Mr. Ubovich, July 24, 2007
Matt Louie
“In some ways he was like Picasso, ever searching for new ways of expression”-Michael H. Goldsen
What is Jazz?What is Jazz?
• Encompasses a variety of musical styles
• Taking liberties with music• Improvisation
Influences in the DevelopmentInfluences in the Development
Early DaysEarly Days
• 1920-Grew up in Kansas City
• Poor Family, no father• Managed to learn
rudiments of the alto saxophone
• 1934-drops out of High school
• Got Frustrated with Barry
• Works with Local Groups
"I kept thinking there's bound to be something else ...I could here it sometimes, but I couldn't play it."
-Parker
Parker wasn’t a child Prodigy, he practiced…and practiced…and practiced.
Rise to FameRise to Fame
• 1940-Joins Jay McSchann’s Band• 1942-Earl Hines’ Orchestra & 1944-Billy Eckstine’s band; both include Dizzy
• Experienced an Epiphany• Plays at the Minton’s Playhouse with jazz all-stars including: Thelonious Monk,
Gillespie, Hawkins, Young, and Eldridge.• Tours with Gillespie from 1944-45• 1945-47-Parker moves to California where he spends six months at Camarillo
State Hospital: addictions and a nervous breakdown.• 1947-1951- “the top of his career”; records various songs with Miles Davis and
Max Roach
"Charlie Parker heard rhythm and rhythmic patterns differently, and after we had started playing, together, I began to play, rhythmically, more like him. In that sense he influenced me, and all of us, because what makes the style is not what you play but how you play it."- Dizzy Gillespie
Out with a Bang…Out with a Bang…
• 1951-1953-Parker Travels around; health and state of mind continue to slide through addiction to narcotics.
• 1953-Massey Hall Concert• 1953-1955-Second wife,
Chan Parker, cannot tame him; debts increase, ill-health
• 1954-Daughter, Pree, dies; attempts suicide twice and commits himself to Bellevue Hospital in NY.
• Dies in March 1955 of a bleeding ulcer and pneumonia
Musical InfluencesMusical Influences
Lester Young
Art Tatum
Count Basie
Famous PiecesFamous Pieces
• Include:Ko KoYardbird
SuiteDonna LeeParker’s
MoodSalt Peanuts
Events in his TimeEvents in his Time
• American Federation of Musicians has silenced most of the recording industry since August 1942
• January 21, 1924 – Vladimir Lenin dies, Soviet Dictator. • May 19, 1925 – Malcolm X is born. • 1923 – First Transcontinental airplane flight from New York to San
Francisco. The flight took 26 hours and 50 minutes. • September, 1928 – Penicillin is created.
Jazz Eras Jazz Eras
Jazz Era: Early Jazz
Swing Jazz
Bebop Jazz
Cool Jazz
Key Aspects:
•Embellish melody•“Jazzing Up”
•Less stiff•“Big Band Era”
•Counter-culture
•Ind. Improv.
•Softer, more relaxed
How is it different?
•Collective
Improvisation •Looser feeling•More
Improvisation
•Big Band v. Small Combo•Smoother, cleaner
•Small Combo
•Fast Paced
•More Complex
•“Comping"
•Response to Bebop
•Airy, more loose quality
•Cooler
Instrument •Piano, banjo, drums, tuba, trumpet,, sax
•Sax, High-hat, cymbals, string bass
•Solo Instruments
•Lighter and subdued instruments
Famous Jazz ArtistsFamous Jazz Artists
Early Jazz
Louis Armstrong
1901-1971
Swing EraCount Basie1904-1984
Cool Jazz
Lee Konitz
1927-
Bebop
Charlie Parker
1920-1955
the Bebop Erathe Bebop Era
• Founding Fathers: Art Tatum
Tadd DameronDizzy GillespieJ.J. JohnsonThelonius MonkFats NavarroCharlie ParkerOscar PettifordBud Powell
"Hot jazz, over-heated, with overdone lyrics full of bawdiness, references to narcotics and double-talk"
Time Magazine, 1944
“Bop was never a conscious movement, but the accidental meeting of forward thinking musical minds” -www.jazzscript.com
ContemporariesContemporaries
• Dizzie Gillespie:• 1917-1993
• Another Bebop icon
• Trumpet
• Bud Powell:• 1924-1966
• Master “comper”
Style of ImprovisationStyle of Improvisation
• First to include scales and substitute scales
• Fast Paced, “hard to listen to”
• A complex mixture of scales and non chord tones over basic melody chord changes
• Chromatic licks as well
What made him unique
Influences on the Future Influences on the Future
• His drug lifestyle paired with his amazing talent led many aspirers to do drugs as well
• His solos and songs were and still are studied note by note by jazz artists during his life and after his death.
• Credited as the Saxophonist of the Bebop Era
Interesting FactsInteresting Facts
• He got his nickname “Bird” by his love of chicken
• At a young age, he tried to play Body and Soul in Double Time and was laughed off the stage
• Body was so messed up doctors thought he was 60 when he died
BibliographyBibliography
• Goldsen, Michael. “Charlier Parker Omnibook” Atlantic Music Corp., © 1978
• Penn, Steve. "Kansas City Jazz Chronology". Kansas City Jazz. 1997
• "Some Jazz History and Interesting Facts". The New York Times Magazine. 1995
http://www.j51.com/~jayl/jazz/jazzfacts.html (2000)
• Ronallo, Doug and Ricci, Michael. "All About Jazz: History of Jazz Time Line" All About Jazz.
2000 <http://www.allaboutjazz.com/timeline.htm> (2000)
Bibliography (continued)Bibliography (continued)
• Porter, Lewis. "History and The Big-Band Era". Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99.Redmond: Microsoft Corporation, 1998.
• Reisner, Robert George. The Legend of Charlie Parker Bird. New York: The Citadel Press, 1962.
• Judden, Air. “Charlie Parker.” February 15, 1999 <http://airjudden.tripod.com/index.html>
• History of American Music: It’s Composers and Musicians. <http://www.smhsmusic.org/jazz2/index1.htm>
• Deaths and Births of the 20’s <http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC051907/Timeline%20and%20Int
eresting%20Facts%202.html>• Charlie Parker and Bebop
<http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/life/beboptime.htm
Picture BibliographyPicture Bibliography
• Charlie Parker & Lester Young
<http://www.smhsmusic.org/jazz2/index1.htm>
• Dizzie Gillepsie <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://
www.150.si.edu/images/10trump.jpg>• Art Tatum
<http://web.media.mit.edu/~mike/music/VanCliburn2000/i/tatum.jpg>