The trio of Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride and Stephen Scott recently released "Parker's Mood," an impressive compilation of Charlie Parker favorites.
For "Bird" lovers out there, the Trio provides interesting and creative interpretations of the original pieces, using only trumpet and flugelhorn, bass and piano. In the style of the Greenwich Village jazz club Bradley's, the pieces are without drums.
McBride explained in the insert, "I like playing without drums sometimes. It shows you where you stand as a bass player."
Scott, the pianist, wrote, "I know Christian is a good bassist with impeccable time but just like anybody else you think, oh, there's no drummer. A listener in a club would say ... 'I wonder how this is going to be?' But once we got into it ... it was really like old news to us."
In no way does the listener miss the drums because the piano solos are captivating, and the bass sounds more than make up for the drums.
There are 16 tracks on the album, providing the listener with more than 65 minutes of Charlie Parker brilliance.
Most of the pieces are Parker standards fans will already recognize, such as "April in Paris" (which Parker did not compose, but still made famous), "Laird Baird," "Marmaduke," "Steeplechase" and of course, "Parker's Mood."
The album opens with "Klactoveesedstene," which immediately gains the listener's interest with the light and fun style in which Hargrove and Scott follow the theme identically, while McBride's music pulsates in the background.
Hargrove then takes the theme himself and Scott comps on piano, until they both give way to a superb bass solo. Despite Scott's occasional triteness while comping "Parker's Mood," the rendition is elegant and slow. But his piano solo more than makes up for it, as he runs up and down the piano without ever losing control, and then smoothly fades out as Hargrove takes over. Unfortunately, the piece ends with a cliched piano riff characteristic of many blues pianists.
Hargrove and Scott jam brilliantly on the upbeat "Marmaduke," and as they jam more and more, McBride cuts in with a super-fast bass solo, and then the two return.
The three work incredibly well together. Despite the fact that the pieces are very short, they manage to put together original and interesting interpretations.
Yet Scott said he still feels that their interpretations simply do not compare with Parker's genius. He wrote in the insert, "What I find most interesting about Parker's compositions is that most of the heads are bits and pieces of his solos. I've tried to write like that, taking some chord changes and playing a chorus, thinking I'd have a tune."
"I know a lot of other musicians who've tried to do it and haven't come near Bird. That's always been one of the most amazing things for me, the way his tunes are just a complete reflection of his artistry and his concept of soloing, of time and rhythm and harmonic concepts. It's all there in 32 bars or even 12 bars, however long the tune is."
These three artists are among the best of current jazz musicians. Each has at least one album already out, and if these albums are as impressive as "Parker's Mood," then they, too, should be worth acquiring.
Yet the whole album could be improved had each piece been slightly longer, even if that meant cutting a few songs from the album.
CD provided courtesy of The
Dartmouth Bookstore.
