Martin Williams
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083491
- eISBN:
- 9780199853205
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083491.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This collection of record notes, interviews, portraits, and reviews recalls the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie Dial Record sessions, Langston Hughes reading poetry to the sound of jazz, and Thelonius ...
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This collection of record notes, interviews, portraits, and reviews recalls the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie Dial Record sessions, Langston Hughes reading poetry to the sound of jazz, and Thelonius Monk recording for the Library of Congress. In addition, in this book there are profiles of such legendary performers as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, and Fats Waller, and chapters on the importance of jazz history and a jazz-view of The Beatles.Less
This collection of record notes, interviews, portraits, and reviews recalls the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie Dial Record sessions, Langston Hughes reading poetry to the sound of jazz, and Thelonius Monk recording for the Library of Congress. In addition, in this book there are profiles of such legendary performers as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, and Fats Waller, and chapters on the importance of jazz history and a jazz-view of The Beatles.
Thomas Owens
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195106510
- eISBN:
- 9780199853182
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195106510.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Created in the jazz clubs of New York City, and initially treated by most musicians and audiences as radical, chaotic, and bewildering, bebop has become, this book states, “the lingua franca of jazz, ...
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Created in the jazz clubs of New York City, and initially treated by most musicians and audiences as radical, chaotic, and bewildering, bebop has become, this book states, “the lingua franca of jazz, serving as the principal musical language of thousands of jazz musicians.” It takes an insightful, loving tour through the music, players, and recordings that changed American culture. Combining vivid portraits of bebop's gigantic personalities—among them Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis—with deft musical analysis, this book offers an instrument-by-instrument look at the key players and their innovations.Less
Created in the jazz clubs of New York City, and initially treated by most musicians and audiences as radical, chaotic, and bewildering, bebop has become, this book states, “the lingua franca of jazz, serving as the principal musical language of thousands of jazz musicians.” It takes an insightful, loving tour through the music, players, and recordings that changed American culture. Combining vivid portraits of bebop's gigantic personalities—among them Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis—with deft musical analysis, this book offers an instrument-by-instrument look at the key players and their innovations.
Gary Giddins
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816690411
- eISBN:
- 9781452949536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816690411.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter describes Charlie Parker’s early years as a musician. Parker was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas, during the time when jazz music was successfully gaining popularity in ...
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This chapter describes Charlie Parker’s early years as a musician. Parker was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas, during the time when jazz music was successfully gaining popularity in Europe. He expressed his enthusiasm for music when his mother bought him a used and unplayable alto for forty-five dollars. When he was a freshman, Charlie was encouraged to join the school’s marching band by its locally celebrated bandmaster Alonzo Lewis who assigned him to play baritone horn. He did his best to improve his performance, soliciting help from anyone willing to teach him, and attended school periodically, chiefly to play in the band.Less
This chapter describes Charlie Parker’s early years as a musician. Parker was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas, during the time when jazz music was successfully gaining popularity in Europe. He expressed his enthusiasm for music when his mother bought him a used and unplayable alto for forty-five dollars. When he was a freshman, Charlie was encouraged to join the school’s marching band by its locally celebrated bandmaster Alonzo Lewis who assigned him to play baritone horn. He did his best to improve his performance, soliciting help from anyone willing to teach him, and attended school periodically, chiefly to play in the band.
Williams Martin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083491
- eISBN:
- 9780199853205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083491.003.0047
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
By the 1920s, jazz music was being recorded more or less regularly. And if those who heard the past legendary musicians claim that the records by Fletcher Henderson or King Oliver or Bix Beiderbecke ...
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By the 1920s, jazz music was being recorded more or less regularly. And if those who heard the past legendary musicians claim that the records by Fletcher Henderson or King Oliver or Bix Beiderbecke were a shadow of the reality, at least the records were there and in some quantity. A more recent legendary event, the appearance of Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie quintets in the early forties, is now regarded as much a part of jazz tradition as Oliver's Creole Band. Finally, a 1953 concert in Toronto did get recorded and now reappears on Fantasy, “Jazz At Massey Hall.”Less
By the 1920s, jazz music was being recorded more or less regularly. And if those who heard the past legendary musicians claim that the records by Fletcher Henderson or King Oliver or Bix Beiderbecke were a shadow of the reality, at least the records were there and in some quantity. A more recent legendary event, the appearance of Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie quintets in the early forties, is now regarded as much a part of jazz tradition as Oliver's Creole Band. Finally, a 1953 concert in Toronto did get recorded and now reappears on Fantasy, “Jazz At Massey Hall.”
Williams Martin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083491
- eISBN:
- 9780199853205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083491.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
Ross Russell was an American jazz producer and writer, as well as the founder of Dial Records. After World War II finished, he opened Tempo Music Shop, his own jazz record store, in Hollywood. He ...
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Ross Russell was an American jazz producer and writer, as well as the founder of Dial Records. After World War II finished, he opened Tempo Music Shop, his own jazz record store, in Hollywood. He founded Dial Records in 1946 for him to record with Charlie Parker, who was living in Los Angeles during that period. He also recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner, Howard McGhee, Dodo Marmarosa, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, and Earl Coleman. As an artist, he loved Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, and he wrote an essay on James P. Johnson.Less
Ross Russell was an American jazz producer and writer, as well as the founder of Dial Records. After World War II finished, he opened Tempo Music Shop, his own jazz record store, in Hollywood. He founded Dial Records in 1946 for him to record with Charlie Parker, who was living in Los Angeles during that period. He also recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner, Howard McGhee, Dodo Marmarosa, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, and Earl Coleman. As an artist, he loved Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, and he wrote an essay on James P. Johnson.
Peter J. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719072161
- eISBN:
- 9781781701492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719072161.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter considers the relevance of the art world perspective to an understanding of jazz improvisation. It draws on Paul Berliner's authoritative research, and uses the career of Charlie Parker ...
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This chapter considers the relevance of the art world perspective to an understanding of jazz improvisation. It draws on Paul Berliner's authoritative research, and uses the career of Charlie Parker as an illustration. It argues that while jazz musicians have made contributions to music in a wide variety of ways, their greatest achievements have been the restoration of improvisation to the mainstream of western musical culture.Less
This chapter considers the relevance of the art world perspective to an understanding of jazz improvisation. It draws on Paul Berliner's authoritative research, and uses the career of Charlie Parker as an illustration. It argues that while jazz musicians have made contributions to music in a wide variety of ways, their greatest achievements have been the restoration of improvisation to the mainstream of western musical culture.
Thomas Owens
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195106510
- eISBN:
- 9780199853182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195106510.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter focuses on those “children” whose musical resemblances to their “father” are easiest to assess, the alto saxophonists. Edward “Sonny” Stitt was among the first of these “children.” Miles ...
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This chapter focuses on those “children” whose musical resemblances to their “father” are easiest to assess, the alto saxophonists. Edward “Sonny” Stitt was among the first of these “children.” Miles Davis, who heard Stitt in 1943, reportedly said that Stitt was already playing in much the same way that he played years later, but the recorded evidence suggests that Stitt copied Charlie Parker. William “Sonny” Criss, clearly was another of Parker's disciples. Other players mentioned in the chapter are: Phil Woods, John Lenwood “Jackie” McLean, and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. The three most prominent non-members of the Parker school were Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, and Paul Desmond. The alto saxophonist least likely to be labeled a “Bird child” is Lee Konitz. Konitz consciously avoided using Parker's vocabulary because in the late 1940s there were already many Parker imitators.Less
This chapter focuses on those “children” whose musical resemblances to their “father” are easiest to assess, the alto saxophonists. Edward “Sonny” Stitt was among the first of these “children.” Miles Davis, who heard Stitt in 1943, reportedly said that Stitt was already playing in much the same way that he played years later, but the recorded evidence suggests that Stitt copied Charlie Parker. William “Sonny” Criss, clearly was another of Parker's disciples. Other players mentioned in the chapter are: Phil Woods, John Lenwood “Jackie” McLean, and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. The three most prominent non-members of the Parker school were Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, and Paul Desmond. The alto saxophonist least likely to be labeled a “Bird child” is Lee Konitz. Konitz consciously avoided using Parker's vocabulary because in the late 1940s there were already many Parker imitators.
Henry Martin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190923389
- eISBN:
- 9780190923419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190923389.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Theory, Analysis, Composition
Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of Parker’s life, emphasizing his musical background, his early musical training, and his experiences that bear directly on his future as a jazz saxophonist. This ...
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Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of Parker’s life, emphasizing his musical background, his early musical training, and his experiences that bear directly on his future as a jazz saxophonist. This overview tracks Parker’s growing professional stature as well as his role in the development of bebop style. Once Parker achieves significant professional success as a member of the Jay McShann Orchestra (1940–1942), the emphasis in the narrative shifts to his career as a composer. The relationships between Parker and his record companies, which secured his copyrights as publisher, are explored. The chapter ends by discussing his unrecorded compositions, including the possibility that they are not by Parker.Less
Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of Parker’s life, emphasizing his musical background, his early musical training, and his experiences that bear directly on his future as a jazz saxophonist. This overview tracks Parker’s growing professional stature as well as his role in the development of bebop style. Once Parker achieves significant professional success as a member of the Jay McShann Orchestra (1940–1942), the emphasis in the narrative shifts to his career as a composer. The relationships between Parker and his record companies, which secured his copyrights as publisher, are explored. The chapter ends by discussing his unrecorded compositions, including the possibility that they are not by Parker.
Thomas Owens
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195106510
- eISBN:
- 9780199853182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195106510.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
During the 1940s and 1950s, bebop alto saxophonists could have been listed as “Charlie Parker and others,” but tenor saxophonists had no comparable single influence. Instead, most tenor players drew ...
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During the 1940s and 1950s, bebop alto saxophonists could have been listed as “Charlie Parker and others,” but tenor saxophonists had no comparable single influence. Instead, most tenor players drew in varying degrees from three players: Parker and two tenor greats of the swing style, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Hawkins had been the primary role model for tenor saxophonists of the 1930s, and continued to influence young players in the 1940s. During his tenure with the Fletcher Henderson band, he recorded extensively, developed his mature style, and built an international reputation. Young made his first recordings in 1936. The first tenor sax players to gain reputations as bebop players were Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons, partly because they played in Billy Eckstine's bebop big band of 1944–5.Less
During the 1940s and 1950s, bebop alto saxophonists could have been listed as “Charlie Parker and others,” but tenor saxophonists had no comparable single influence. Instead, most tenor players drew in varying degrees from three players: Parker and two tenor greats of the swing style, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Hawkins had been the primary role model for tenor saxophonists of the 1930s, and continued to influence young players in the 1940s. During his tenure with the Fletcher Henderson band, he recorded extensively, developed his mature style, and built an international reputation. Young made his first recordings in 1936. The first tenor sax players to gain reputations as bebop players were Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons, partly because they played in Billy Eckstine's bebop big band of 1944–5.
Nick Catalano
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195144000
- eISBN:
- 9780199849017
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195144000.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Although he died in a tragic car accident at the age of twenty-five, Clifford Brown is widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of jazz, a trumpet player who ranks with ...
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Although he died in a tragic car accident at the age of twenty-five, Clifford Brown is widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of jazz, a trumpet player who ranks with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, and a leading influence on contemporary jazz musicians. This book gives us a major biography of this musical giant. Based on extensive interviews with Clifford Brown's family, friends, and fellow jazz musicians, here is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable musician. The book depicts Brown's early life, showing how he developed a facility and dazzling technique that few jazz players have ever equalled. We read of his meteoric rise in Philadelphia, where he played with many of the leading jazz players of the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker; his tour of Europe with Lionel Hampton, which made him famous; and his formation of the Brown-Roach Quintet with prominent drummer Max Roach—one of the most popular hard bop combos of the day. In an era when most jazz players were either alcoholics or addicts, Brown was clean living and drug free. Indeed, he became a role model for musicians who were struggling with drugs and had great influence in this area with one prominent colleague, tenor sax player Sonny Rollins. This book not only provides a colorful account of Brown's life, but also features an informed analysis of his major recorded solos, highlighting Brown's originality and revealing why he remains a great influence on trumpet players today.Less
Although he died in a tragic car accident at the age of twenty-five, Clifford Brown is widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of jazz, a trumpet player who ranks with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, and a leading influence on contemporary jazz musicians. This book gives us a major biography of this musical giant. Based on extensive interviews with Clifford Brown's family, friends, and fellow jazz musicians, here is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable musician. The book depicts Brown's early life, showing how he developed a facility and dazzling technique that few jazz players have ever equalled. We read of his meteoric rise in Philadelphia, where he played with many of the leading jazz players of the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker; his tour of Europe with Lionel Hampton, which made him famous; and his formation of the Brown-Roach Quintet with prominent drummer Max Roach—one of the most popular hard bop combos of the day. In an era when most jazz players were either alcoholics or addicts, Brown was clean living and drug free. Indeed, he became a role model for musicians who were struggling with drugs and had great influence in this area with one prominent colleague, tenor sax player Sonny Rollins. This book not only provides a colorful account of Brown's life, but also features an informed analysis of his major recorded solos, highlighting Brown's originality and revealing why he remains a great influence on trumpet players today.
Thomas Owens
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195106510
- eISBN:
- 9780199853182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195106510.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Charlie Parker dominated early bebop in the 1940s. His mastery of the new musical idiom was complete, and his style had a self-contained logic beyond that of any of his contemporaries. Parker was a ...
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Charlie Parker dominated early bebop in the 1940s. His mastery of the new musical idiom was complete, and his style had a self-contained logic beyond that of any of his contemporaries. Parker was a principal role model for jazz players worldwide. Elements of his style were copied, not only by innumerable alto saxophonists, but by tenor and baritone saxophonists, clarinetists, trumpeters, pianists, and others. Parker's recorded legacy begins in 1940, with two unaccompanied solos recorded on amateur equipment, and some private recordings by the Jay McShann band for broadcast on a Kansas radio station. They reveal that Parker was learning his craft by using elements of the musical language of swing. Perhaps the first feature of Parker's style to strike the ears is his tone quality; compared with that of his swing-era predecessors, it was harsh, hard-edged. Another striking feature is the rhythmic aspect of his solos.Less
Charlie Parker dominated early bebop in the 1940s. His mastery of the new musical idiom was complete, and his style had a self-contained logic beyond that of any of his contemporaries. Parker was a principal role model for jazz players worldwide. Elements of his style were copied, not only by innumerable alto saxophonists, but by tenor and baritone saxophonists, clarinetists, trumpeters, pianists, and others. Parker's recorded legacy begins in 1940, with two unaccompanied solos recorded on amateur equipment, and some private recordings by the Jay McShann band for broadcast on a Kansas radio station. They reveal that Parker was learning his craft by using elements of the musical language of swing. Perhaps the first feature of Parker's style to strike the ears is his tone quality; compared with that of his swing-era predecessors, it was harsh, hard-edged. Another striking feature is the rhythmic aspect of his solos.
Williams Martin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083491
- eISBN:
- 9780199853205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083491.003.0039
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The title of the collected Ko-Ko date on a new Savoy LP is simply “Charlie Parker” but the music represents, of course, the way it should be done. John Mehegan's terse notes were excellent. He began ...
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The title of the collected Ko-Ko date on a new Savoy LP is simply “Charlie Parker” but the music represents, of course, the way it should be done. John Mehegan's terse notes were excellent. He began with a brief essay which is possibly one of the most important written on Parker, Gillespie, and the whole movement. The discoveries here among the new tracks were the first take on “Thriving from a Riff”, including some excellent Gillespie.Less
The title of the collected Ko-Ko date on a new Savoy LP is simply “Charlie Parker” but the music represents, of course, the way it should be done. John Mehegan's terse notes were excellent. He began with a brief essay which is possibly one of the most important written on Parker, Gillespie, and the whole movement. The discoveries here among the new tracks were the first take on “Thriving from a Riff”, including some excellent Gillespie.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226554235
- eISBN:
- 9780226554259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226554259.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter investigates how Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka used Charlie “Bird” Parker as a sign of Negro complexity and a symbolic guide through the contingent ...
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This chapter investigates how Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka used Charlie “Bird” Parker as a sign of Negro complexity and a symbolic guide through the contingent relationship among the illustrations and theories developed in their literary works and cultural criticism. Though each writer approached Bird as “the black artist as sacrificial Negro,” they charted separately defined routes toward achieving African American political, economic, and cultural freedom. Parker's musical innovations helped shape radical youth immediately after World War II. Improvisation and illumination provide access to salvation in Baldwin's work. Following John Dewey's themes of art as experience, Jones/Baraka draws poetry and jazz improvisation together so that he can simultaneously exercise the culture's diverse and contradictory parts while poeticizing the spiraling self in transition. Jones/Baraka provides the American public with a poetics for transforming American culture and politics with the inclusion of improvisational African American identities.Less
This chapter investigates how Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka used Charlie “Bird” Parker as a sign of Negro complexity and a symbolic guide through the contingent relationship among the illustrations and theories developed in their literary works and cultural criticism. Though each writer approached Bird as “the black artist as sacrificial Negro,” they charted separately defined routes toward achieving African American political, economic, and cultural freedom. Parker's musical innovations helped shape radical youth immediately after World War II. Improvisation and illumination provide access to salvation in Baldwin's work. Following John Dewey's themes of art as experience, Jones/Baraka draws poetry and jazz improvisation together so that he can simultaneously exercise the culture's diverse and contradictory parts while poeticizing the spiraling self in transition. Jones/Baraka provides the American public with a poetics for transforming American culture and politics with the inclusion of improvisational African American identities.
Gary Giddins
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816690411
- eISBN:
- 9781452949536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816690411.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter discusses the musicians that greatly influenced the career of Charlie Parker. Charlie took a job at the popular hangout place Jimmy’s Chicken Shack where he met Art Tatum, a pianist who ...
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This chapter discusses the musicians that greatly influenced the career of Charlie Parker. Charlie took a job at the popular hangout place Jimmy’s Chicken Shack where he met Art Tatum, a pianist who inspired him that that any note could be made to fit in a chord. He then performed a music gig at Times Square where he met Bill “Biddy” Fleet who taught him the harmonic theory. He practiced what he learned from Tatum and Fleet, playing passing tones and concentrating on the higher intervals of chords raised to ninths, elevenths, or thirteenths.Less
This chapter discusses the musicians that greatly influenced the career of Charlie Parker. Charlie took a job at the popular hangout place Jimmy’s Chicken Shack where he met Art Tatum, a pianist who inspired him that that any note could be made to fit in a chord. He then performed a music gig at Times Square where he met Bill “Biddy” Fleet who taught him the harmonic theory. He practiced what he learned from Tatum and Fleet, playing passing tones and concentrating on the higher intervals of chords raised to ninths, elevenths, or thirteenths.
Sherie M. Randolph
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469623917
- eISBN:
- 9781469625119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469623917.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter examines Flo Kennedy’s law school training and early career as an attorney in New York City. As a black woman, Kennedy did not fit neatly within a legal system in which the most visible ...
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This chapter examines Flo Kennedy’s law school training and early career as an attorney in New York City. As a black woman, Kennedy did not fit neatly within a legal system in which the most visible architects of the courts’ civil and criminal process, doctrines, and unspoken codes were white men. With very little guidance on how to survive in a profession unaccustomed to black women in any role other than defendants, she had to make her own way. Now in her thirties, Kennedy created her own roadmap for becoming a lawyer, surviving as a working attorney, and gaining financial stability. Among her notable achievements was her contribution to intellectual property law, as she defended the rights of writers and jazz musicians (e.g., Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker) against the record labels that exploited their talents and profited from their creativity.Less
This chapter examines Flo Kennedy’s law school training and early career as an attorney in New York City. As a black woman, Kennedy did not fit neatly within a legal system in which the most visible architects of the courts’ civil and criminal process, doctrines, and unspoken codes were white men. With very little guidance on how to survive in a profession unaccustomed to black women in any role other than defendants, she had to make her own way. Now in her thirties, Kennedy created her own roadmap for becoming a lawyer, surviving as a working attorney, and gaining financial stability. Among her notable achievements was her contribution to intellectual property law, as she defended the rights of writers and jazz musicians (e.g., Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker) against the record labels that exploited their talents and profited from their creativity.
Gary Giddins
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816690411
- eISBN:
- 9781452949536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816690411.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter discusses the career of Charlie Parker after recovering from his heart disease. During his homecoming, Parker was stalked by amateur recording companies who offered to record his solo ...
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This chapter discusses the career of Charlie Parker after recovering from his heart disease. During his homecoming, Parker was stalked by amateur recording companies who offered to record his solo performance. More than 350 improvisations of Parker were recorded privately between 1947 and 1954. Parker composed the song “Yatag”—an acronym of his favorite phrase from the lyric, “You are the angel glow”—and recorded it for Dial Records. His later performances of the song include those from Sweden in late 1950 and from the celebrated concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, in 1953.Less
This chapter discusses the career of Charlie Parker after recovering from his heart disease. During his homecoming, Parker was stalked by amateur recording companies who offered to record his solo performance. More than 350 improvisations of Parker were recorded privately between 1947 and 1954. Parker composed the song “Yatag”—an acronym of his favorite phrase from the lyric, “You are the angel glow”—and recorded it for Dial Records. His later performances of the song include those from Sweden in late 1950 and from the celebrated concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, in 1953.
Phil Ford
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199939916
- eISBN:
- 9780199354467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199939916.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
Chapter 4 considers the hip sensibility as it enjoyed its breakout success in the 1960s. While chapter 2 considers the early Cold War style of hip intellectualism—ironic, skeptical, literary, ...
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Chapter 4 considers the hip sensibility as it enjoyed its breakout success in the 1960s. While chapter 2 considers the early Cold War style of hip intellectualism—ironic, skeptical, literary, disaffiliative, and colored by the era's general dislike of the mass—chapter 4 describes how it changed within a mass counterculture. While the earlier generation sought a complicated reconciliation of meaning and sensory presence, the later one sought a purer presence in which meaning might dissolve altogether. This succession of moods within the hip sensibility registers on three exemplary pieces of music, each separated from the others by about a decade: Charlie Parker's “Ornithology,” Ken Nordine's “Sound Museum,” and Bob Dylan's “Ballad of a Thin Man.”Less
Chapter 4 considers the hip sensibility as it enjoyed its breakout success in the 1960s. While chapter 2 considers the early Cold War style of hip intellectualism—ironic, skeptical, literary, disaffiliative, and colored by the era's general dislike of the mass—chapter 4 describes how it changed within a mass counterculture. While the earlier generation sought a complicated reconciliation of meaning and sensory presence, the later one sought a purer presence in which meaning might dissolve altogether. This succession of moods within the hip sensibility registers on three exemplary pieces of music, each separated from the others by about a decade: Charlie Parker's “Ornithology,” Ken Nordine's “Sound Museum,” and Bob Dylan's “Ballad of a Thin Man.”
Henry Martin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190923389
- eISBN:
- 9780190923419
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190923389.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Theory, Analysis, Composition
Charlie Parker, Composer is the first assessment of a major jazz composer’s oeuvre in its entirety. Providing analytical discussion of each of Parker’s works, this study combines music-theoretical, ...
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Charlie Parker, Composer is the first assessment of a major jazz composer’s oeuvre in its entirety. Providing analytical discussion of each of Parker’s works, this study combines music-theoretical, historical, and philosophical perspectives. A variety of analytical techniques are brought to bear on Parker’s compositions, including application of a revised Schenkerian approach to the music that was developed through the author’s prior publications. After a review of Parker’s life emphasizing his musical training and involvement in composition, the book proceeds by considering the types of Parker pieces as categorized by overall form and harmony and the amount of preplanned music they contain. The historical circumstances of each piece are reviewed, and, in some cases, sources of the ideas of the most important tunes are explored. The introduction includes a discussion of the ontology of a jazz composition. The view is advanced that the Western concept of a music composition needs to be expanded to embrace practices typical of jazz composition and forming a significant part of Parker’s work. While focusing on Parker’s more conventional tunes, the book also considers his large-scale melodic formulas. Two formulas in particular are arguably compositional, since they are extensive and sometimes appear in subsequent improvisations. As part of the research for this book, all of Parker’s copyright submissions to the Library of Congress were examined and photographed. The book reproduces the four of them that were copied by Parker himself.Less
Charlie Parker, Composer is the first assessment of a major jazz composer’s oeuvre in its entirety. Providing analytical discussion of each of Parker’s works, this study combines music-theoretical, historical, and philosophical perspectives. A variety of analytical techniques are brought to bear on Parker’s compositions, including application of a revised Schenkerian approach to the music that was developed through the author’s prior publications. After a review of Parker’s life emphasizing his musical training and involvement in composition, the book proceeds by considering the types of Parker pieces as categorized by overall form and harmony and the amount of preplanned music they contain. The historical circumstances of each piece are reviewed, and, in some cases, sources of the ideas of the most important tunes are explored. The introduction includes a discussion of the ontology of a jazz composition. The view is advanced that the Western concept of a music composition needs to be expanded to embrace practices typical of jazz composition and forming a significant part of Parker’s work. While focusing on Parker’s more conventional tunes, the book also considers his large-scale melodic formulas. Two formulas in particular are arguably compositional, since they are extensive and sometimes appear in subsequent improvisations. As part of the research for this book, all of Parker’s copyright submissions to the Library of Congress were examined and photographed. The book reproduces the four of them that were copied by Parker himself.
David Sterritt
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231172011
- eISBN:
- 9780231850711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172011.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter analyses Clint Eastwood's films in the 1980s. Pale Rider (1985) follows a gunfighter known only as the Preacher as he rides into a California mining camp besieged by an avaricious ...
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This chapter analyses Clint Eastwood's films in the 1980s. Pale Rider (1985) follows a gunfighter known only as the Preacher as he rides into a California mining camp besieged by an avaricious landowner, who has enlisted a corrupt sheriff in his campaign to seize the miners' claims. Heartbreak Ridge (1986) is the second war movie directed by Eastwood. Although its story is set in the present day, its title comes from the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, a month-long clash in the Korean War that produced notably high casualties among American, French, Chinese, and North Korean troops. Bird (1988) is a biopic about Charlie Parker, the legendary alto-sax player known as Yardbird or just Bird to his contemporaneous fans.Less
This chapter analyses Clint Eastwood's films in the 1980s. Pale Rider (1985) follows a gunfighter known only as the Preacher as he rides into a California mining camp besieged by an avaricious landowner, who has enlisted a corrupt sheriff in his campaign to seize the miners' claims. Heartbreak Ridge (1986) is the second war movie directed by Eastwood. Although its story is set in the present day, its title comes from the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, a month-long clash in the Korean War that produced notably high casualties among American, French, Chinese, and North Korean troops. Bird (1988) is a biopic about Charlie Parker, the legendary alto-sax player known as Yardbird or just Bird to his contemporaneous fans.
William T. Dargan
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520234482
- eISBN:
- 9780520928923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520234482.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
While the primary focus of this book is black Baptist ritual, its general significance extends to non-church forms and contexts that developed in the generations immediately following the ascendancy ...
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While the primary focus of this book is black Baptist ritual, its general significance extends to non-church forms and contexts that developed in the generations immediately following the ascendancy of Dr. Watts among black Baptists. The black music forms that emerged in the twentieth century—blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz—all drew upon the common body of ritual and musical elements which developed along with nineteenth-century congregational singing. Though reinterpreted in terms of their secular settings, signifying parallels and allusions to black worship permeate secular genres as well as the concert music of many composers, both white and black. This chapter discusses the interrelationships between these style traditions in terms of several classic blues performances. It then describes and critiques three seminal jazz tracks as embodiments of the ritual form and styles included in the continuum between lining out and ring shout: Billie Holiday's signature song, “Strange Fruit”; Charlie Parker's modern jazz improvisation on the blues, “Parker's Mood”; and the landmark collective improvisation led by Ornette Coleman, “Free Jazz.”Less
While the primary focus of this book is black Baptist ritual, its general significance extends to non-church forms and contexts that developed in the generations immediately following the ascendancy of Dr. Watts among black Baptists. The black music forms that emerged in the twentieth century—blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz—all drew upon the common body of ritual and musical elements which developed along with nineteenth-century congregational singing. Though reinterpreted in terms of their secular settings, signifying parallels and allusions to black worship permeate secular genres as well as the concert music of many composers, both white and black. This chapter discusses the interrelationships between these style traditions in terms of several classic blues performances. It then describes and critiques three seminal jazz tracks as embodiments of the ritual form and styles included in the continuum between lining out and ring shout: Billie Holiday's signature song, “Strange Fruit”; Charlie Parker's modern jazz improvisation on the blues, “Parker's Mood”; and the landmark collective improvisation led by Ornette Coleman, “Free Jazz.”
