The celebration of Charlie Parker’s 100th birthday was cut short due to the COVID lockdown, as tons of concert tributes were cancelled. Still, record labels did a yeoman’s job of keeping the festivities going, with Craft Records releasing a vinyl box set of Bird’s 10’ record albums, complete with ultra cool album jackets and a hip little booklet to go along. They also came out in a cd release, with the sound impressively cleared up.
Looking back 60+ years from this musical revolution, the takeaway from Charlie Parker’s music is different than the initial reaction. At the time, these torrid pieces such as “Donna Lee”, “Ko-Ko” and “Ah-Leu-Cha” were like a thrown down gauntlet, challenging the listener and aspiring musician to keep up with the rapid and intricate solos. Now, after the onslaught of rock and roll, as well as electronic music, the thing that stands out is Parker’s lyricism. Of course, his album “With Strings” (which was panned at the time by jazz “purists”) displays gorgeous melodies like “Just Friends”, but even his soloing on the blues “Now’s The Time” , the sleek “Milestones” (with him on tenor) or the concert rendition on “Confirmation” shows a marrow of lyricism that goes back to Lester Young and Frankie Trumbauer. Also, the confines of a 78 rpm forced the artists to make their musical statements in one chorus (Parker never took more than four, even in concert), showing the wisdom of concise yet pithy statements. These two factors are something that modern ears and musicians need to be reminded of, and not every 100 years.