Bad pun about a “bird” showing his “visa” to “fly” someplace
(7 downloads)Monday, Jan 21, 2008
A classic orchestration technique from the days of Charlie Parker’s ascent was the doubling of Bird’s alto melody with a muted trumpet. This bright shadow is one part of the cool, classically proportioned elegance behind the be-bop sound at its zenith. It’s this sound that Dizzy Gillespie and Parker rode to the dizzying heights of commercial success and from which Bird would later tragically plummet. This recording of Parker’s original composition, “Visa”, has the trumpet of Kenny Dorham handling this detail work. Dorham was one of the great sidemen from the bebop movement who went on to perform with the Jazz Messengers and the Max Roach Quintet. His star status, however, never shone very bright since he was a figure who was constantly overshadowed by the greatness of those with whom he associated. He died in 1972 of kidney failure at the age of 48, cutting short a purposeful if not high profile career. Here, Dorham, gets a twelve bar solo after Bird, then followed by Tommy Turk on trombone, and a nice piano break by Al Haig. The remainder of the rhythm section on this recording is Tommy Potter, bass; Vidal Belado, bongos and Max Roach on the drums.
Have you ever heard the stories of Parker showing to sessions and gigs with plastic toy saxophone when he was teetering on the edge? Here’s the make; it was a German made instrument, perhaps manufactured as an inexpensive student model but not exactly a toy. Ornette Coleman has also used one of these:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lexlub/chroma-tic_eng/grafton/index.htm