Tuesday, September 1, 2009

birdlives



[First and third solos, first song]
Listen to Coleman Hawkins' beautiful solo: primarily developed from melodic ideas, with very little exploration of harmony. Also, dominated by sixteenth notes (which, at a faster tempo, would be dotted eighth/sixteenth combos). Swing.

[Second solo, first song]
Listen to Bird: primarily harmonic exploration, using extended chords and chromaticism. 16th note melodic ideas punctuated by 32nd-note runs, skating over the groove instead of inside of it. Mostly based on the underlying chord structure with only a cursory nod to melody, yet still bluesy as all hell. Bop.

Second song entitled Celebrity and features Charlie "Bird" Parker.

[Above notes swiped from video poster's info in sidebar]