Celebrating Bird: the Triumph of Charlie Parker
by Gary Giddins
Paperback: 208 pages; $17.95
University of Minnesota Press
www.upress.umn.edu
ISBN: 9780816690411
One of things I enjoy most about reading a biography is the opportunity to inhabit another world. When reading about jazz, the world isn’t always pleasant. If you read about Louis Armstrong, for example, you encounter rampant racism, where a man such as Louis could be invited to play on the stage but wouldn’t be allowed to have a drink out front of the stage. If you read about Chet Baker you find a world of destructive addiction, where movie star good looks get systematically eaten away by heroin.
Any book about Charlie Parker could justifiably focus on those two themes. And many do. But this one doesn’t. It shows another side of Bird’s world—it shows how loved he was.
Parker knew everyone. As you flick through the pictures of this book you’ll find the Who’s Who of jazz. Here’s Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Here’s Gerry Mulligan and Duke Ellington. There’s Count Basie and Monk. And there’s Max Roach and Mingus.
He knew them all and played with most. And they all loved him—for some reason.
Parker was notorious for letting people down. He’d often turn up late or not turn up at all. He’d borrow horns and hock them. He’d nod off on stage. He’d skip out the back of the venue without paying his fellow musicians, so he could score some drugs. He’d lie and cheat and steal.
And yet everyone loved him.
This book conveys the genuine affection that everyone had for Bird; not just as a musical genius, but as a man. They remember his gentleness, his kindness and his sense of humour.
“A Swedish musician remembers a drive through farm country in a car full of musicians, one of whom told Bird that cows love music. He assembled his horn, walked into the field, bowed formally to a cow…and gave her a taste of modern jazz.”
Well worth a read.
Sweet Swing Blues on the Road: A Year with Wynton Marsalis and His Septet
by Wynton Marsalis & Frank Stewart
Hardcover: 192 pages; $12.83
W. W. Norton & Company
wyntonmarsalis.org
ISBN: 9780393035148
Speaking of other worlds, the sumptuous black and white photography in this book really does take you there.
It offers a glimpse into the world of the modern day jazz musician as he takes his band on the road. The blurb on the back of the book claims to capture the “smoky intimacy of a late-night club scene” and it really does.
The photographs are worth the price of the book themselves. But the most interesting part of the book is the description of Wynton’s band.
He may be playing in elegant concert halls with handpicked top quality musicians, but the constituent elements are the same as any band you might see at your local venue. It might even describe the band you’re in.
The bass player is the “blue collar worker” of the band: dependable, steady and relentless.” The pianist is the “Chairman of the Board.” “Harmonies and melodies reveal themselves quickly” to the trombonist. The saxophone is a “thinking man’s instrument” whilst the drummer’s style “determines the sound of the band.” Even the sound guy gets a mention: “as serious as a heart attack.”
I may never get to play Carnegie Hall, or the Lincoln Center (although I haven’t given up hope quite yet)—but this book certainly gives you a taste of what it’s like.
Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus
by Charles Mingus
Paperback: 384 pages; $16.43
Vintage
amazon.com
ISBN: 9780679737612
95% sex. 5% jazz. Unless sex is jazz in which case it’s 100% jazz.
Gavin Milnthorpe is a published author, with three books published to date. He has also had some modest success in the theatre, including two professionally produced plays, and also featured on the BBC Radio Norfolk New Comedy Show. He lives in Bury St. Edmund, UK.
