I tried this,Tribute to Bird, based on famous Charlie Parker'stheme Now's the time ...

Go ahead to my myspace page following the link below, find the widget Reverbnation at the midddle and double-click on Tribute to Bird if you would like to hear (bottom of list).

Any comments, critics, remarks highly appreciated ...

Stephane

I just wanted to try blues and blues variations on a Parker's theme: that's all. There's a lot to do anyway...

Stephane

P.S. Anyone here tried to play other theme's from Charlie Parker on Stick ? There's a lot to do, and hope this could be done (and done again, allowing various different interpretations) with this fabulous instrument.

Indeed playing/interpreting Bird's music or any of the bebop standards is a cool challenge on the Stick. Every instrument has it's easy fingering logistics and hence piano players don't phrase like guitarists or horn players. The Stick is no different. All the notes are there to be found but for each tune we must find voicings and fingerings that are smooth and musical.
The tune you picked has an easy melody. Eventually you'll work your way into more complex heads and use them to influence your solo phrasing to sound like the style of the moment.
Try Billie's Bounce for a greater melodic challenge. The chord changes are still a 12 bar blues.

Steve A

>>P.S. Anyone here tried to play other theme's from Charlie Parker on Stick ? <<<

You bet.

Steve A

I love Bird I play "Confirmation" as a regular part of my gigs. He was a greatly underrated composer.

Brett

Yes Lee Vatip (is your pseudo referencing the famous actor, Lee Van Cleef ?)

Basically I am a piano player and I guess you can hear that while I am playing.

I thought of learning Billie's bounce at first but it looks difficult as a beginning for be-bop.
Now's the time is probably one of the simpliest theme from Charlie Parker. In fact you are right : maybe practicing different themes from him might open my mind and ability to be-bop phrasing on Stick and opening to modern jazz. Now on, I feel a little bit "stuck" with only classical -and standard- jazz playing, which I fancy a lot but I can find now some internal limits to my "classical" jazz playing now ...
Be-bop - and modern jazz in general- is a fantastic opening to free improvisation, which you demonstrate I think.

I understand "intellectually" what you wrote (it makes sense indeed, no doubt!) but have difficulties in gathering everything together: walking bass, chords on right hand, be-bop phrasing and the rest .. (!)

Well , practicing seems to be the response to my questions .. and maybe awaiting for some good teacher to come to France or finding one here in this very place. But we are not too many in France to practice Stick here, and even less to be jazz fanatics ...

Anyway thanks to you and everybody,

Cheers

Stéphane

I thought about working "Ornithology" which looks maybe less difficult.

Bird was the most beautiful meteor in the whole history of jazz, I think.

Cheers

>>thought about working "Ornithology"<<

In case you didn't know, Ornithology has the same chord changes as the standard "How High The Moon" that Les Paul made famous with his wife Mary Ford.
Bird and others, often took a standard of the time, kept the chord changes and created a new melody in bebop style. This saved on royalties while keeping the interesting harmonic obstacle courses that these tunes offered (key changes and such) for improv.

BTW- my signing name has nothing to do with Clint Eastwood's buddy.
Say it out loud.
SA

I love it when you post factoids like this. Part of what makes the forum so great is all the history lessons in addition to the music lessons.


The joke might be lost on someone who doesn't pronounce English the way we do and who might not have a grasp on American sayings. I've even had to explain it to some people who are Americans.

-Eric

So if I play "How High The Moon" with the appropriate chords change, I can improvise (or it might look to the audience I am improvising) and play "Ornithology" instead of improvising ?? With the same chords and same changes ? Same bar numbers too ?

That's pretty interesting !
Nobody will be upset if I do so: quoting (or interlacing different standards or standards licks) is very common in jazz gigs among musicians, so if I do so nobody will mind I guess....


I suppose there are other "borrowings" like that inside jazz and standards. Remember that "Autumn leaves " is originally a melancholic, popular and romantic french song !!

I mention this in case you did'nt know but I am in fact sure you did !

>>Nobody will be upset if I do so: quoting (or interlacing different standards or standards licks) is very common in jazz gigs among musicians, so if I do so nobody will mind I guess....<<<


Why would anybody mind whatever you play? You can play a Beatle melody over a blues progression or a free improv over a one chord vamp. Or feedback over Girl From Ipanema. Play what you hear and feel at the moment.


>>>I suppose there are other "borrowings" like that inside jazz and standards. Remember that "Autumn leaves " is originally a melancholic, popular and romantic french song !! <<

That progression is lots of songs. It's just a descending cycle of fifths.
Santana's "Europa" is the same chords in Cm.
BTW-The Real Book has Autumn Leaves on GMaj (Emi). At jam sessions it's always played in BbMaj (Gm)
Other like progressions:
"Donna Lee"="Home In Indiana"
"Ladybird"="Half Nelson"
"So What"="Impressions"