Background
Charlie “Bird” Parker was a jazz composer, saxophonist, and bebop pioneer. Along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, he is regarded as one of the most influential jazz artists. Parker is one of the few painters whose greatness was recognized during his lifetime by his peers. He is still regarded as a legend and greatly impacts today’s artists.
It isn’t easy to fathom a current jazz performer who hasn’t been impacted in some manner by Charles Parker’s performance language. Since 1945, b-bop has been trendy, players have been rigorously recorded and invited to the world’s major stages, and Charlie Parker’s subsequent life has been a sequence of impressive creative successes and personal life disasters. However, the whole jazz community regards itself as a successor to what the great Parker brought to the world.
Analysis
For my evaluation, I picked the performer’s iconic Town Hall concert in New York City in 1945. Charlie Parker heard works that included interpolations of the original tune over pre-existing jazz forms and standards. “Ornithology” (“How High The Moon”) and “Yardbird Suite,” the vocal version of which is titled “What Price Love,” are two examples. While songs like “Now’s The Time,” “Billie’s Bounce,” and “Cool Blues” were based on the standard twelve-bar blues changes, Parker also fashioned his version of the 12-bar blues for Blues for Alice. These unusual chords are sometimes referred to as “Bird Changes.”
Certain of his songs, like Charlie Parker’s solos throughout the performance, are characterized by extended, complicated melody lines and a little repetition. However, he did utilize repetition in certain melodies, like “Now’s The Time.” The music is highly energetic yet pretty relaxing. The performer dazzles with his fast-playing virtuosity. The new music’s harmony and rhythmic arrangement produce an unsettling effect. The sounds of the saxophone, piano, and drums create a complete, deep, but at the same time rhythmic sound.
It’s worth mentioning that Dizzy Gillespie performed on the same stage as Charlie Parker in New York. The two performers have a perfect balance of their own instrument styles. They adapt to each other, creating something new in jazz music. It is as if the performers communicate with each other through the music while telling their stories to the audience.
Summary
In this way, I really enjoyed the concert of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in New York City in 1945. The pieces were gorgeous, and the performance was the best I’ve ever heard. These artists are true virtuosos; they live the melody, filling it with the brightest colors. This music makes you want to relax and dance, surrendering to the flow of sound. I would love to hear these pieces performed live. I love jazz for its improvisation, emotion, style, and mood; such compositions can be called relaxed music.
The rhythm of Charlie Parker’s work is like the elements of the sea – unplanned surges, ebbs and flows, and waves that are hard to calculate. The combination of drums and saxophone evokes an atmosphere of relaxation, as if the percussion instruments are waking up the listener from the trance of the saxophone. The piano gives the basis of the melody; the performer so virtuously performs the work that the sound flows very smoothly, but at the same time quickly.