STORY ONE:
CHARLIE PARKER: “I knew how to play two tunes in a certain key, the key of D for saxophone (alto sax), F concert. I learned how to play the first eight bars of Lazy River and I knew the complete tune to Honeysuckle Rose. I never stopped to think about there being other keys or nothin’ like that. So I took my horn out to this joint where a bunch of fellows I’d seen around were, and the first thing they started playing was Body and Soul, long-meter, you know. So, I go to playing my Honeysuckle Rose and there ain’t no form of conglomeration, you know so … they laughed me off the bandstand … they laughed at me so hard ….. I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I never thought about there being any more keys, you know.”
JAMEY AEBERSOLD: It is obvious from the above statements that Charlie Parker didn’t know too much when he started out. Pretty much the same as most of us, I suspect. It is clear that Charlie Parker must have spent some time practicing the right things, listening to the right people, and in general, gathering as much knowledge about music as possible because he very shortly became a legend in his own time. I recommend reading “Bird Lives” by Ross Russell.
STORY TWO:
JOHN WELCH: “I was eighteen years old and very naïve. I had studied arranging with Bill Russo. I went out to South Dakota to the University there to study music and found myself really unhappy with the situation. I wrote back and forth to Bill Russo and he got me in with Lennie Tristano in New York City for lessons. So, I took the bus to New York and my first weekend in New York I went down to the Village with my horn (trombone) to a club called the Open Door. There was a big sign on the window saying “Jam Session – Sunday Afternoon”. This was Sunday afternoon so I went in with my horn and a group was playing a Blues in F. So I thought, well great, I enjoy playing Blues in F. I put my case on the table, took my trombone out and just walked right up and started to sit in with them. My playing at that point in my life was influenced by George Brunies, a Dixieland trombonist, so I started playing tailgate trombone with this group. They immediately brought Blues in F to a screeching halt and the piano player said, ‘Cherokee in E’ and took it at a tempo you wouldn’t believe. I thought, well that’s cool. I don’t know ‘Cherokee’ and I don’t play very well in that key and I sure can’t play that fast on trombone, so I’ll sit this one out. So, I went back to the table and laid the horn in the case on the table and sat there. Everyone was looking at me as thought cancer had arrived. Finally a guy in the audience came over and started unscrewing my horn, taking it apart and putting it away in the case. And he just looked down at me and said, ‘Kid, you’re obnoxious.’
“The band that day at the Open Door was Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and none other than Charlie Parker himself!
“George Wallington was the fellow who came over to my table and dismantled my horn. And after he said that, I got the message!
“I realized I had really done something terrible. So they broke the set and Bird came over, came right straight over to my table. I remember him turning the chair around so he was leaning on the back as he faced me. Then he started talking to me. He said, ‘Look kid, what you were doing didn’t really fit in with this group, but you were doing it well. You really were laying it down. That’s great! And you just keep going.’
“Bird was so compassionate in that moment with me when everyone else was ready to kill me. And this struck me very much. As a matter of fact, when I think of Charlie Parker, I would have to say he affected me much more as a human being in my reaction to other human beings at that moment than musically.”
JAMEY AEBERSOLD: I feel that these two stories give us an excellent example of someone who seemingly, in jazz, has made it to the top but can still lean over and help the beginner and give encouragement when all else seems to fail. I would like to think one of the finest things jazz education can offer is the dissemination of valuable information to each corner of the music world without any thought of return … The music of Charlie Parker has certainly done this …
CHARLIE PARKER: “I knew how to play two tunes in a certain key, the key of D for saxophone (alto sax), F concert. I learned how to play the first eight bars of Lazy River and I knew the complete tune to Honeysuckle Rose. I never stopped to think about there being other keys or nothin’ like that. So I took my horn out to this joint where a bunch of fellows I’d seen around were, and the first thing they started playing was Body and Soul, long-meter, you know. So, I go to playing my Honeysuckle Rose and there ain’t no form of conglomeration, you know so … they laughed me off the bandstand … they laughed at me so hard ….. I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I never thought about there being any more keys, you know.”
JAMEY AEBERSOLD: It is obvious from the above statements that Charlie Parker didn’t know too much when he started out. Pretty much the same as most of us, I suspect. It is clear that Charlie Parker must have spent some time practicing the right things, listening to the right people, and in general, gathering as much knowledge about music as possible because he very shortly became a legend in his own time. I recommend reading “Bird Lives” by Ross Russell.
STORY TWO:
JOHN WELCH: “I was eighteen years old and very naïve. I had studied arranging with Bill Russo. I went out to South Dakota to the University there to study music and found myself really unhappy with the situation. I wrote back and forth to Bill Russo and he got me in with Lennie Tristano in New York City for lessons. So, I took the bus to New York and my first weekend in New York I went down to the Village with my horn (trombone) to a club called the Open Door. There was a big sign on the window saying “Jam Session – Sunday Afternoon”. This was Sunday afternoon so I went in with my horn and a group was playing a Blues in F. So I thought, well great, I enjoy playing Blues in F. I put my case on the table, took my trombone out and just walked right up and started to sit in with them. My playing at that point in my life was influenced by George Brunies, a Dixieland trombonist, so I started playing tailgate trombone with this group. They immediately brought Blues in F to a screeching halt and the piano player said, ‘Cherokee in E’ and took it at a tempo you wouldn’t believe. I thought, well that’s cool. I don’t know ‘Cherokee’ and I don’t play very well in that key and I sure can’t play that fast on trombone, so I’ll sit this one out. So, I went back to the table and laid the horn in the case on the table and sat there. Everyone was looking at me as thought cancer had arrived. Finally a guy in the audience came over and started unscrewing my horn, taking it apart and putting it away in the case. And he just looked down at me and said, ‘Kid, you’re obnoxious.’
“The band that day at the Open Door was Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and none other than Charlie Parker himself!
“George Wallington was the fellow who came over to my table and dismantled my horn. And after he said that, I got the message!
“I realized I had really done something terrible. So they broke the set and Bird came over, came right straight over to my table. I remember him turning the chair around so he was leaning on the back as he faced me. Then he started talking to me. He said, ‘Look kid, what you were doing didn’t really fit in with this group, but you were doing it well. You really were laying it down. That’s great! And you just keep going.’
“Bird was so compassionate in that moment with me when everyone else was ready to kill me. And this struck me very much. As a matter of fact, when I think of Charlie Parker, I would have to say he affected me much more as a human being in my reaction to other human beings at that moment than musically.”
JAMEY AEBERSOLD: I feel that these two stories give us an excellent example of someone who seemingly, in jazz, has made it to the top but can still lean over and help the beginner and give encouragement when all else seems to fail. I would like to think one of the finest things jazz education can offer is the dissemination of valuable information to each corner of the music world without any thought of return … The music of Charlie Parker has certainly done this …