Here is a great idea, with almost a perfect cast of characters. Producer Larry Klein celebrates the music and life of Charlie Parker by using the famed alto saxist’s songs for vehicles of musical narration by an A team of singers. With Madeleine Peyroux doing a slow and simmering “Ornithology” as “Meet Charlie Parker,” Gregory Porter slowing down “Yardbird Suite” to a soulful strut, Luciana Souza gently articulating “Bloomdido” via “Every Little Thing” and Kurt Elling waxing eloquence like a guide on a “Moose the Mooch’d” “Los Angeles,” the recipe seems like a sure winner.
The major problem is that instead of the logical choice of accompaniment by an alto saxist, the team of Ben Monder/g, Mark Giuliana-Eric Harland/dr, Scott Colley-Larry Grenadier/b and Craig Taborn/p-key is lead by a TENOR saxist, Donny McCaslin. Now, don’t get me wrong; I love this guy. The problem is that the choice is like selecting Luciano Pavarotti to play the vocal role for Maria Callas. The whole team is as dark as the shadows on Clint Eastwood’s biopic of Bird, with only Kandace Springs’ percussive “My Little Blue Suede Shoes,” Melody Gardot’s “Scrapple From the Apple” and the clever take of Camile Bertault singing French on “Au Privave” displaying any semblance of joy and enthusiasm. Most of the atmosphere is as noir as Fred McMurray in Double Indemnity. If you never heard anything by Bird, would this entice you? Hmmm.
Impulse! Records
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