Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. He was a virtuoso and introduced revolutionary rhythmic and harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber.
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career while on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form "Bird", continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise".
Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
Bebop explored the chords around the melody. It required an amazing, studied, and hard earned mastery of music theory and the manual dexterity, instrumental craft if you will, to put the theory into practice. Pile on to that an encyclopedic knowledge of "standard" songs (if someone said "Bird of Paradise," "The Way You Look Tonight," or "Salt Peanuts," you were expected to know the melody and the chord changes) and the discipline to fit all that into an ensemble, and you have a genre and practice that was as rich in innovation as it was steeped in tradition. Not only were they fast, they seldom missed a change or a note. This sort of genius was anything but random—every note had a purpose and a place. Bebop is an acquired taste, but one worth the effort.
Get it!
don't play again please
don't say again please
And that would be because...?
A year later, it's still a great set! ; )
Agreed. That was such a nice transition.
I don't think that there's such a thing as "NOT RP music". Have you listened here a while?
So true. I've been listening for a long time (almost 6 years, I think) and I never get bored. Wonderful eclectic variety!
I don't know if it's necessarily always "an acquired taste". That phrase, to me, implies that there is something innately unpleasant or alien about it, or that deliberation and learning are prerequisites for enjoying or appreciating it. Some people just enjoy the sounds, or the rhythms. I liked a lot of the Bebop I was exposed to when I was younger, but I guess I did appreciate it more as I learned to play musical instruments. It's obviously not for everyone, but what is?
I read Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century recently. Good book, but my one and only real take away: if someone doesn't agree with you and your theory, then you call them either a sell-out or a philistine. Music theory got to the point where if anyone liked a work, or thought it was beautiful (and I mean anyone at all), then it was by definition crap.
Now, for my input: this is largely why new "classical" music is so thoroughly marginalized to the point where the average person cannot name a single active composer. We went from the days of Wagner, when the Emperor of Germany bowed before the master, to today, where even on the classical stations I listen to they won't play anything from the 20th century (not even Mahler or Stravinsky). It is a very dubious proposition when a form of art takes its theories seriously. It's suicide really.
Thankfully, rock music has always been anti-establishment, which means anti-intellectual, so it is immune to this hogwash. Thanks be to God.
Can't bring myself to rate this.
I know, intellectually, that this guy is tops. But I just can't stand this sort of Jazz. It's all so much seemingly random noise, to me....
Poacher wrote:
Yep, I concur. I put this under the general style of Noodling Jazz. I have kept my ears open to all kinds of jazz over the decades, but it has never fired me up.
Strange, my tastes are far ranging but it is like there is a block that will never go with this kind of jazz. Perhaps I was scared by some as a child.
Bebop explored the chords around the melody. It required an amazing, studied, and hard earned mastery of music theory and the manual dexterity, instrumental craft if you will, to put the theory into practice. Pile on to that an encyclopedic knowledge of "standard" songs (if someone said "Bird of Paradise," "The Way You Look Tonight," or "Salt Peanuts," you were expected to know the melody and the chord changes) and the discipline to fit all that into an ensemble, and you have a genre and practice that was as rich in innovation as it was steeped in tradition. Not only were they fast, they seldom missed a change or a note. This sort of genius was anything but random—every note had a purpose and a place. Bebop is an acquired taste, but one worth the effort.
Bebop explored the chords around the melody. It required an amazing, studied, and hard earned mastery of music theory and the manual dexterity, instrumental craft if you will, to put the theory into practice. Pile on to that an encyclopedic knowledge of "standard" songs (if someone said "Bird of Paradise," "The Way You Look Tonight," or "Salt Peanuts," you were expected to know the melody and the chord changes) and the discipline to fit all that into an ensemble, and you have a genre and practice that was as rich in innovation as it was steeped in tradition. Not only were they fast, they seldom missed a change or a note. This sort of genius was anything but random—every note had a purpose and a place. Bebop is an acquired taste, but one worth the effort.
I don't know if it's necessarily always "an acquired taste". That phrase, to me, implies that there is something innately unpleasant or alien about it, or that deliberation and learning are prerequisites for enjoying or appreciating it. Some people just enjoy the sounds, or the rhythms. I liked a lot of the Bebop I was exposed to when I was younger, but I guess I did appreciate it more as I learned to play musical instruments. It's obviously not for everyone, but what is?
Can't bring myself to rate this.
I know, intellectually, that this guy is tops. But I just can't stand this sort of Jazz. It's all so much seemingly random noise, to me....
You read my mind ...
Can't bring myself to rate this.
I know, intellectually, that this guy is tops. But I just can't stand this sort of Jazz. It's all so much seemingly random noise, to me....
Sorry to hear it. I just noted that I had rated this as a 10 some time ago. I would have done that today, otherwise.
I think it's wonderful. Just a matter of taste..