The Passion of Charlie Parker, cover image Photo: Impulse! Records
William Dart explores the genius of Charlie Parker, and especially a new release on the Impulse! label called The Passion of Charlie Parker.
Produced by Larry Klein, it endeavours to "create a musical play which impressionistically traces the life of Charlie Parker, from his beginnings in Kansas City [...] to Paris, where he was feted as the innovative giant that he had become."
Using a jazz ensemble of hot young musicians centred on sax player Donny McCaslin, the album presents vocal versions of several of Parker's tunes with lyrics by David Baerwald. The star-studded line-up of singers includes Madeleine Peyroux, Barbara Hannigan, Kurt Elling, Kandace Springs, Jeffrey Wright, Melody Gardot and Camille Bertault.
For good measure, William throws in some other recorded tributes to Bird from The Last Poets and Jack Kerouac.
Music Details
'Song title' (Composer) – Performers
Album title
(Label)
'Lester Leaps In' (Young) – Charlie Parker
Bird: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(CBS)
'Bird Feathers' (Parker) – Charlie Parker Quintet
Hall of Fame: Charlie Parker
(Past Perfect)
'East of the Sun' (Bowman) – Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker: Great Master Great Songs
(XXL)
'Bird’s Word' (Last Poets) – The Last Poets
Chastisement
(Charley)
'Charlie Parker' (Kerouac) – Jack Kerouac, Steve Allen
Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox
(Chrome Dreams)
'Blues Variations' (Schnyder) – Daniel Schnyder & The Modern Art Septet
Secret Cosmos
(Enja)
'Meet Charlie Parker' (a version of 'Ornithology') (Parker) – Madeleine Peyroux, Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'The Epitaph of Charlie Parker' (a version of 'Visa') (Parker) – Barbara Hannigan, Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'Central Avenue' (McCaslin et al) – Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'Los Angeles' (a version of 'Moose the Mooche') (Parker) – Kurt Elling, Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'Live My Love for You' (a version of 'My Little Suede Shoes') (Parker) – Kandace Springs, Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'Fifty Dollars' (a version of 'Segment') (Parker) – Jeffrey Wright, Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'Salle Pleyel' (Taborn et al) – Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
'Après Vous' (a version of 'Au Privave') (Parker) – Camille Bertault, Donny McCaslin et al
The Passion of Charlie Parker
(Impulse!)
