CHAPTER 16 | JAZZ IN THE POSTWAR YEARS 399
Listen & Refl ect
- The division of this small jazz ensemble into melody instruments and rhythm section
is essentially the same as in 1920s New Orleans jazz and 1930s swing. How have the
roles of the various instruments changed, and how have they stayed the same? - In other words, what, if anything, is new in how the instruments interact?
- Keeping in mind that this is a mid-tempo bebop record, compare Yardbird Suite with
Lester Leaps In (see LG 15.4), defi nitely an up-tempo swing record. What are the
similarities and differences, not only in the solos but in the role of each instrument in
the ensemble?
CD 3.8 Listening Guide 16.2 Yardbird Suite^ CHARLIE PARKER
popular song, creating harmonies that are complex, mysterious, and intriguing
for listeners and players alike.
Charlie Parker, at twenty-six, was the senior member of the septet that
recorded Yardbird Suite in 1946; the youngest, Miles Davis, was nineteen. All
seven musicians, to varying degrees, play in styles rooted in swing idioms but
with new features associated with bebop. The improvised solos are melodic lines
consisting primarily of fast notes (two per beat, at a rapid tempo), in asymmetri-
cal groups that start and stop in unpredictable places within the tune’s regular
eight-bar phrases. Underpinning the ensemble is a steady walking bass, as in
swing, but Vic McMillan’s pitch choices reach far beyond the basic notes of the
chords, unlike the previous generation of bass players. Like swing drummers,
Roy Porter moves the timekeeping function away from the kick (bass) drum up
to the ride cymbal; unlike those predecessors, though, he uses the snare and
kick drums to “drop bombs,” that is, to play accented notes in unexpected places,
often with the effect of energizing the following solo. Similarly, the guitar’s
steady one chord per beat contrasts with the piano’s irregular and unpredict-
able comping. The sum total is a sound that resembles swing but with startling
moments of unpredictability.
Parker’s contemporaries recognized his superior talent and musicianship,
and by 1950 jazz already bore clear signs of his infl uence. Some of his com-
positions were by then standards, his recordings were widely known, and
saxophonists were not the only players who wore them out with repeated lis-
tening, trying to learn from his dense improvising style. Although Parker’s
heroin addiction and heav y drinking led to erratic performances in the years
before his death in 1955 at age thirty-four, his artistic stature was never in
doubt. His bold spirit, ready to follow musical logic wherever it might lead,
inspired other musicians to push the boundaries further, distancing modern
jazz even more from the center of the popular sphere, on which it relied for
economic support.172028_16_386-411_r3_sd.indd 399 23/01/13 10:56 AM