?Jazz Views has rapidly become one of the most important jazz websites in the UK.?
Provocateur Records
Chasin? The Bird  This year, 2005, marks not just the 50th anniversary of Charlie Parker?s death, but also the 85th anniversary of his birth. To celebrate this Equinox are publishing Chasin? The Bird by Parker biographer, musician and critic, Brian Priestley. This also coincides with the release of Chasin? The Bird 4CD set compiled by Priestley for Proper Records, and Nick Lea took this as a cue to speak to Brian about his book and Parker?s music in general. The following contains an interview with the author, a review of the book and also the CD box set.  Alto saxophonist, Charlie Parker, is arguably one of the greatest improvisers of the 20th Century. Along with Louis Armstrong he has probably had the greatest influence on the way that jazz was played and subsequently evolved. Famed as much for turbulent private life as for his music, Parker continues to capture the imagination of generations of jazz buffs, with his music being analysed in depth by musicians a half century after his premature death in 1955 at the age of 34. Much has been written about the man and his music, some of it good, some of it bad, and some of it bordering on the ludicrous. Ross Russells? book Bird Lives, an early biography written by a man who recorded Parker for his own Dial label is hardly considered definitive, and with the passing of time appears to be more and more flawed. One of the first books that I ever encountered on Parker was Brian Priestley?s original short biography simply titled Charlie Parker published in 1984. The book ran to no more than 96 pages including a comprehensive discography, but somehow within a relatively slim volume Priestley manages to be informative and enthusiastic in a book that would have been invaluable to seasoned fans and newcomers alike. Chasin? The Bird therefore revisits the earlier biography and updates the discography with the main part of ?new? edition given over to revising and refreshing the original text, so why a revision of the previous work as opposed to entirely new book? ? Well? explained author Brian Priestley, ?in one sense, no new book on Charlie Parker would be entirely new. When I looked again at my earlier book, which was just an introductory biography, I was surprised there was a lot of fairly insightful stuff in it. But, given how much longer I?ve been listening to and reading about jazz, I thought I could provide a bit more depth this time round.? And adding to it with new material and information. ?That?s true. There?s not only been Miles Davis?s autobiography, which has quite a lot about Parker, but also for instance the autobiography of his last wife, Chan Parker. And a number of interviews with other people, including some of my own, and some that have been done in connection with various record reissues. It?s worth saying too that many of the earlier printed sources seemed to take on greater or clearer meaning, as a result of trying to bring everything together in one place ? I hope so, anyway.? I ask Brian what he thinks it is about Parker's music that has kept us enthralled for the last 50 years, more so than perhaps any of the other practitioners of bop and Charlie?s contemporaries? ?To some extent, I?d resist the idea that he?s so much more important than, say, Dizzy or Monk.? continues Priestley, ?Or Bud Powell, for goodness sake. That?s part of the problem with the Ross Russell book Birdi Lives that people still often quote as if it was authoritative. But he does tend to treat Bird as a god, and the others as being far less significant. To actually answer the question, I suppose what it is about Parker?s music is that ? for all its apparent complexity ? it?s so direct and emotive that you can?t ignore it. There are still people who don?t like it, even though they may like earlier or later jazz, or both. But his music is just too strong for it not to provoke a definite reaction.? So, I asked Brian, do you think that the passing years, and the notoriety of his personal life, have made it difficult to separate Parker the man from Charlie Parker, the musician? ?Well, there?s certainly a danger of being too impressed by Parker the junkie and the alcoholic ? rather as with Billie Holiday. And that?s why most of the musicians who knew him not only hated Ross Russell?s book, but hated Clint Eastwood?s movie, Bird, even more. But,? continues Priestly ?in a way, the passage of time makes it a lot easier to separate the man and his failings from his music. I mean, until the movie about Amadeus Mozart that made him out to be a sort of badly-behaved rock star, nobody had bothered about his personality for about 150 years.? Parker's music has become such a part of the musical vocabulary in almost all jazz since the 1940's, and influenced practitioners of every instrument. Do you think that maybe this has taken the edge off his impact on the music for listeners who are just discovering jazz? ?Again, it?s yes and no, I think. Yes, in the sense that, if you read about him before really feeling his impact yourself, you may think it sounds the same as everything else from that period. But, in another sense, all that?s happened since ? including the players who absorbed such a lot from him ? has made it easier for new listeners to respond, and to feel how great the music is. Compared to the way he was seen at the time, when most listeners and most other musicians were hostile to him ? not to his personality, but hostile to his music ? I think new listeners are much more open to the impact of his music now. Provided they get a chance to hear it, and where are they going to do that ? except maybe in classrooms or on radio stations?? There is so much of Parker's music available to buy, it may be confusing to anyone relatively new to his playing which recordings should be heard first, and indeed which are the most definitive. So where is the best place to become acquainted with Charlie Parker? ?Well, there?s a list in the book of, I think, 14 recommended CDs plus four box sets ? which should be enough to keep anyone happy ? but, of course, there?s a lot of overlap between the boxes and the single CDs. If you can run to a box set, there?s one that includes a version of all the studio tracks under his own name from 1944-1951 called Boss Bird. Or there?s a two-CD set called ?The Dial Master Takes? ? all of which is also included in ?Boss Bird?, so you can see how it starts to get confusing.? (See selective discography below for further details - Ed) ?I think though,? Brian elaborates, ?if you want just one initial purchase, perhaps it should be the famous live album Jazz At Massey Hall? by the quintet of Parker (as), Dizzy Gillespie (t), Bud Powell (p), Charles Mingus (b) and Max Roach (d). Or perhaps the amazing new find of Gillespie and Parker at Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945. That?s the full album title, and it was released just in time to make it into the book.? And while on the subject of the Parker?s recorded legacy, I understand that you have been involved in compiling a 4 CD set of Parker's live recordings, also entitled 'Chasin? The Bird' in conjunction with Proper Records. Do the live recordings perhaps tell us more, or reveal another side to the altoist than can be heard in his studio recordings? ?Yes, that?s right, and let me say right away that it doesn?t include Jazz At Massey Hall ? because it?s too famous in its own right ? and it doesn?t include the Town Hall concert, because I didn?t even hear that till after finishing the compilation. ?The thing about the live recordings? enthuses Brian ?is first of all, how variable they are. In the studio, Bird was very conscious of putting down something that would be widely heard, doing concentrated short solos because almost everything was recorded for singles, to be played on the radio and on jukeboxes. The live recordings, from broadcasts and concerts, are the way he actually performed in public and, apart from perhaps Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts, he had no idea they would reach beyond the people listening live in the moment. But, of course, some of them were recorded on very primitive equipment, and often it was third or fourth or tenth-generation copies that were later issued on records. So the idea of my compilation, apart from covering a complete chronology of his career with live tracks, was to concentrate on the ones with decent sound. Some of the ones taken directly from broadcasts, say at the Royal Roost or Birdland, stand comparison with the studio quality of the period, but all of them have that extra quality of Parker not censoring his playing for posterity ? but just going for it.? You have stated in the book that towards the end of his career that "...Charlie was playing longer and longer solos." How do you think that he would have adapted to the new LP format that was shortly to revolutionize the music industry, and how do you think that his music might have developed had he lived longer? ?Well, predicting the future as of 50 years ago is difficult. Especially as by the time he made his last studio album ? where he was given the relative freedom of doing five-minute tracks rather than three-minute tracks ? I think he?d more or less given up on ?developing? his music. ?There is some evidence he was musically frustrated and couldn?t see how to take it to another level but, if he?d been as focussed as Miles Davis in the late 1950s and 60s, he might have done things like Miles actually did. Or what Sonny Rollins did. But, of course, Miles was his greatest discovery and his greatest prot?g?, and Sonny was his greatest pupil who went on to do something different with the same language. In a sense, Bird had already done so much that he didn?t need to worry about what to do next, except in career terms, of course. He?d already taken the implications of what everybody before him had achieved ? Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Art Tatum ? and turned it into a convincing new style that still sets the standard today.? As I mentioned in the above interview, my first serious study of Bird came with some borrowed LPs of Jazz At The Philharmonic and the Savoy Recordings, rapidly followed up by the Dial Sessions that were available on Spotlite Records. With the LPs amply satisfying my listening at the time (and giving countless hours of pleasure in the intervening years, I was also interested in finding out about the man behind the music, and my introduction came courtesy of Brian Priestley?s book Charlie Parker published by Spellmount in 1984.A slim volume comprising of eight chapters totalling 59 pages of text and 25 page discography, Priestley manages to convey his enthusiasm for Parker?s music in a way that was fascinating for new comer or die-hard fans alike. As a musician himself, Priestley has a good theoretical knowledge of the music and utilised a way of explaining difficult musical theory in a way that gave the layman an easily understandable handle on the saxophonist?s methods. So, how does the new volume compare to the original publication? Well firstly, it has been greatly expanded with the original eight chapter format being retained but the text contained within taking up 138 pages and the discography being updated with newly released material to a comprehensive 58 pages. There is also the inclusion of a notes by the author relating to items raised in the main text that require further clarification or indeed offer suggestions for further reading. The real meat of the book, and the reason why it should be recommended so heartily to those who have the original volume, as well as newcomers to Brian?s writings on Parker is in the overall text itself. With new information coming to light in the intervening years, and conversations with musicians that Priestley has interviewed since the original volume was published. Another impressive aspect of the book is the way in which Priestley deals with Parker?s private life. Whereas most other biographies will depict quite graphically the highs and lows of the saxophonist?s addiction to, and abuse of, hard drugs and alcohol; the author eschews the shock aspect and reports it in more of a matter of fact delivery. Whilst in no way condoning Bird?s use of illegal substances, he offers explanations as to why Charlie felt the need to take such narcotics with out justifying or making excuses for hjs behaviour. In fact the message that comes across in very anti-drugs, with much mention being made of the way that Parker would verbally, and physically if he thought it would be more effective, try to discourage any of his peers or younger musicians that he came into contact with from following his example. Coupled with detailed examination of the recordings and the circumstances surrounding the recording sessions themselves, this latest edition on the life and work of Charlie Parker serves as further and useful reference to the work of one of the true giants of music of any genre. The only disadvantage that I have discovered with the book since it arrived for review is that is has a tendency to create a yo-yo effect for the reader. I was barely a few pages into this fascinating work before I was frantically digging out my Parker CDs for further listening, then back to the book to check a point of interest that had arisen from listening to the music; and then back to the CD collection to see if I had a specific recording mentioned by Priestley?.and so it went on back and fore. And this is what it is all about at the end of the day?the music. If reading the book gives greater insight into music and prompts the reader to go away and listen anew then Brian Priestley has succeeded in his aim for writing this superb volume. Thoroughly recommended, and very conveniently published in time for Christmas. PROPERBOX 99 Charlie Parker (as) with various personnel including Jay McShann (p); Lucky Thompson (ts); Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro (t); Oscar Pettiford (b); Al McKibbon, Curley Russell, Tommy Potter (b); Al Haig, Tadd Dameron, John Lewis, Bud Powell (p); Max Roach, Stan Levey, Kenny Clarke, Roy Haynes, Art Blakey (d) Recorded 02/42 - 08/54  Chasin' The Bird the four CD box set from Proper Records that neatly accompanies Brian Priestley's book of the same name is the latest in a series of reissues that once again tempts us to spend our hard earned cash on yet more recordings by the great altoist, so does it offer anything new, and is it good value for money?The answer of course must be an emphatic yes. It is always good to reaquaint oneself with one of the giants of 20th century music, and with the Proper's excellent presentation of their products it is value per pound all the way. To accompany the book, and celebrate the life of Charlie Parker, author Brian Priestley has compiled all the music in the set, and to boot supplied some highly informative comments in the 47 page booklet that we have come to expect with the Properbox releases. With much of Parker's studio material being readily available and recently reissued, some of it by Proper themsleves in the excellent and essential Boss Bird (Properbox 46), Priestley has elected to featue exclusively live tracks recorded over a twelve and half year period. Sound quality is surprisingly good, with Disc 2 taking all of it's material from performances given by Parker at the Royal Roost over a five month period from September 1948 to February 1949 that show Parker to be in superb if rather contained form. Contained not in ideas, but by time constraints, as much of the material recorded was used for radio broadcasts, and subsequently the longest track on this disc is 6 minutes 46 seconds. Significantly longer than would be found on the studio recordings. In the booklet, Priestley ascetains that perhaps the highlight of the set is Disc 3, which after several hearings is difficult to dispute. Recorded during a single nights work, and aptly subtitled "Bird In Flight", it features 12 titles of Bird with a quintet made up of Fats Navarro, Bud Powell, Curley Russell, and Art Blakey. All concerned play out of their skin, with Powell in exemplorary form and threatening to steal the show. However, Navarro and Parker fight back, and it is great to hear Parker stretch out on "The Street Beat", and some wonderful interplaywith the trumpeter. This disc alone is worth the admission price! But that's not the whole story as there are another 2 CDs that make up the set, and these are just as valuable in their own right. Disc 1 features some early Parker with Jay McShann's Orchestra, followed by some performances featuring the undeniably unique and exciting frontline of Charlie with Dizzy Gillespie. Now familiar bop standards, that would have sounded a great deal less familiar at th time of these recordings show just how far ahead of all but a handful of his contemporaries the altoist was. Performances of "Groovin' High", "Billie's Bounce", Blue 'N' Boogie" and "Confirmation" are all invigorating; and with being so familair with the studio recording of these famous themes, it is refreshing to hear how the musicians tackle their material in a live setting. Disc 4, naturally enough, contains some of the latest of the recordings, and the return of the partnership between the saxophonist and Dizzy. Yet again, many of the themes are the well tried and tested repertoire favoured by Charlie and his colleagues, however in the hands of the assembled personnel there is nothing routine about these performances. The sound quality may not be of the standard that is expected by many of todays listeners, but the quality of the jazz produced speaks for itself. And quality is what we have here. Some top flight jazz by some of the greatest practitioner of bebop, and not forgetting of course the book by Brian Priestley as the perfect accompaniment to furthering ones study of ornithology. |
Copyright ? 2002-2006 Jazzviews