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Charlie Parker — Bird of Paradise
Album: Yardbird Suite
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 507









Released: 1946
Length: 3:11
Plays (last 30 days): 0
(Instrumental)
Comments (60)add comment
 Laleggs76 wrote:

don't play again please



don't say again please
 Laleggs76 wrote:
don't play again please
 
And that would be because...? 

don't play again please
 zenhead wrote:
A great set going on - tom waits to charlie parker! keep it going!
 
A year later, it's still a great set!  ; )
 zenhead wrote:
A great set going on - tom waits to charlie parker! keep it going!

 

Agreed.  That was such a nice transition.
A great set going on - tom waits to charlie parker! keep it going!
 Proclivities wrote:

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.
Great jazz tune by one of the giants.
 WonderLizard wrote:

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?
American Music. How Wonderful.  {#Clap}
Up until RP, I had never heard 'Bird', but the more I hear, the more I like!
 gekkosan wrote:
Erk!

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 ...{#Frown}

 gekkosan wrote:
Erk!

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..
 
 WonderLizard wrote:

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!
Oh yes, perfect mood
Yardbird was a giant.   This man was an original, no sound like him ever before and many built from or copied after. {#Cheers}
 gekkosan wrote:
Erk!

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.

 Otomi wrote:
. . . The only thing I didn't like was how Burns dumps on fusion; I think his subjective preferences ruined the later segments. Throughout the film he praises innovation, but at the end he goes conservative on us.
 
I had the same reaction. Great documentary, but a little biased. Hours and hours on Louis Armstrong and a relatively brief segment on Miles, just as an example.

 jagdriver wrote:


https://www.pbs.org/jazz/

You can rent this from your favorite mailorder DVD rental outfit. One even lets you stream it to your set in real-time through the first week of March.
 
I bought this documentary cheap on DVDs from the PBS website and had it shipped to my daughter. (I just checked Amazon and it's even cheaper there now.) A year later she moved in with us for a few months and I had the opportunity to watch it. It's on 10 discs, with over 18 hours of the history of jazz. I'm sure watching it would enhance anyone's enjoyment of this musical genre. (The more I learn about any art form, the more interesting and enjoyable it becomes; I assume this is true for most people.) The only thing I didn't like was how Burns dumps on fusion; I think his subjective preferences ruined the later segments. Throughout the film he praises innovation, but at the end he goes conservative on us.
 gekkosan wrote:
Erk!

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....
 
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.

Oh yeah. More of this kinda stuff, Bill! Thanks!
¡El pájaro!
OK, y'all ... concentrate and listen ... this is greatness!! {#Cheers} {#Cool}
Jazz get's no better than this. You dig?
Great tune!
I did not expect classic jazz. Reminds me of what my parents listened to when I was a child. They loved Miles Davis, Coltrane, and Charlie Parker.{#Smile}
Great to see a little Bird in the mix!
 etwilson wrote:

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!

 gekkosan wrote:
Erk!

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....
 
I appreciate your comments.  I was a music major in college and have played a number of instruments over the past 44 years!    And I know jazz is a great style that is the ONLY style to come from America.  I never could really get into "straight ahead jazz".  I liked the softer, more melodic "pop type" jazz.  Still do.  It's the randomness that gets me....

 camatcba wrote:
NOT RP music. I like it. But I do not listen to RP for this style.
 
I don't think that there's such a thing as "NOT RP music".  Have you listened here a while?

its fantastic!  Keep it up Bill!   {#Meditate}
bill and rebecca...your taste in jazz is impeccable!  thanks for some beautiful morning Bird!
 camatcba wrote:
NOT RP music. I like it. But I do not listen to RP for this style.
 
{#Ask} Do you know what eclectic means? I listen to RP for many styles of music.

I like.  Bill could play this more often!
NOT RP music. I like it. But I do not listen to RP for this style.



Erk!

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....

love the contrast to the other "stuff", and lands this one at 7 - very nice





https://www.pbs.org/jazz/

You can rent this from your favorite mailorder DVD rental outfit. One even lets you stream it to your set in real-time through the first week of March.
The version on the Live at Massey Hall (1953) album is a little more immediate. Gillespie, Mingus, Roach, Powell, and Bird all push each other, and it shows.
You won't believe this, I'm eating at Panera Bread right now and they're playing the same Charlie Parker song!

Amazing!!
beautiful
Perfect.
Oh yeah ... this is nice.
{#Meditate}
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...a good day just became damn near perfect!
The best of bird!
xc_para_puravida wrote:
Aaahh, Bird! Now there's virtuosity. Never played squeak notes - never had to. And yet, he took improvisation to its highest art form. Along with Miles certainly one of the five greatest musicians of the 20th century.
That's only two.
perfect!!!!
I know lots of people love this kind of stuff, but sorry I have to run for the mute button.
Aaahh, Bird! Now there's virtuosity. Never played squeak notes - never had to. And yet, he took improvisation to its highest art form. Along with Miles certainly one of the five greatest musicians of the 20th century.
This is perfection....picture rainy Paris streets, Belmondo in a trilby running from the Gendarmes, dodging mopeds and 2cv's
I see Bird in the Now Playing column, just gotta switch over from the LRC. This stuff is it, man!
The Bird Lives!
More, more!
ahhhh charlie... thank you bill.