…there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats.”
—Charles Mingus
Charlie Parker & Coleman Hawkins – Improvisation (1950)
Charlie Parker – alto sax
Coleman Hawkins – tenor sax
Hank Jones – piano
Ray Brown – bass
Buddy Rich – drums
Super-rare video of one of the 20th century’s greatest musicians, Charlie Parker. Coleman Hawkins was a giant of jazz, a legit bridge between swing and bop, and Bird devours him whole like a hawklicious M&M. Coleman Hawkins! Jones, Brown, and Rich are a fantastic, swinging rhythm section and Parker brings out their absolute best.
As concisely brilliant as Bird’s solo is, perhaps even better is watching him watch Hawkins play. The look he shoots the band when Hawkins starts soloing is withering.
Totally agree, Hambone. No one is outplaying or upstaging Bird in any musical context, from about 1942 until his death in '55. It's like he spoke a different language and us normals have been busy ever since translating into dumbed-down English.
For the record, I feel the same way about Clarence White, The Beatles, Hendrix, Ellington, Dylan, Coltrane, and probably Monk, Hank Williams, Django and Prince. It's a short list.
You mention Dylan, and the first thing I thought of on seeing this video was Bob basically laughing at Donovan when he sings one of his trad. folk songs in “Don't Look Back.” And then he kills him with “It's all over now baby blue.”
Louis Armstrong doesn't make the short list?
Louis is definitely on the list. That was a knuckleheaded oversight on my part. Jimmie Rodgers and Johnny Cash? Either yes or damn close.
I thought this was MUSIC not a damn American Jazz idol competition, folks! Is that what we're getting from this great piece of recorded history?
If one looks for other versions of rare film on youtube there is one with an intro by Norman Granz who produced it, and who, incidentally mentions how pleased Parker was to be playing with one of his idols, Hawkins, and also, according to Granz the soundtrack was PRE-recorded, and required the musicians to mime their solos. One wonders where this leaves the likelihood of Parker's “withering looks” and amused scorn some here have fantasized onto this footage.
Gene, the floor is yours. You're welcome to address the mellifluous expressionism of Charlie Parker or you can dodder on the tangential. I'm thirsty for wisdom about our bopriffic doyen. Give us 32 bars of shaw nuff insight.
Gene, just because Norman Granz remembers the production a certain way doesn't render the actual documented footage moot. Hawk gets cut into tiny bits and this isn't debatable in any serious sense. Furthermore, Hawk was not one of Bird's idols. Bird was a known disciple of Lester Young, whose cool, melancholy riffs were diametrically opposed to the rounded, urgent honk of Coleman Hawkins. In fact, Bird's reinvention of jazz in the early '40s was a specific reaction to the shouting tenor sax that Hawkins made popular. Now, you were saying something about a fantasy I believe …
Everyone who came after Hawkins and Lester Young had to deal with their imposing presence and influence even if — as you state — Parker chose to deliberately take a different path. Are you suggesting Bird had disdain or disinterest in the trails Hawkins blazed? I think jazz history short hand oversimplifies the Bean v Prez influence on the boppers. I do not see this film — with its staged shots and prerecorded soundtrack — as some sort of head-cutting contest, certainly not on the cartoonish level some of the comments here suggest.
LD, My comments take issue with those who project a rather simplified notion of jazz development and its artists onto a three minute piece of film footage which is by its very nature is antithetical to the jazz process. This clip is NOT a filmed performance of two sax giants duking it out in a live setting or jam session where every shrug, grimace and facial tic would seem to illuminate the thoughts and attitudes of the combatants. Rather, this is Parker and Hawkins lip-synching to a pre-recorded performance, sitting through several takes, close-ups, and mid-shots, and attempting to not only mime their solos but to look natural and unaffected by camera and crew. Personally I feel the soundtrack shows both men in a great light, the differences of their styles never more apparent, and while Parker is indeed in his own solar system it was a trek unimaginable without the pioneering sax man Hawkins, whom Bird admired, and who plays beautifully here. To speculate that Parker is showing some sort of visual disgust and ridicule for old-guard Hawkins based on an interpretation of Parker’s rather awkward body language is just plain silly. One would have to have intimate knowledge of these men and perhaps been on the set – or possibly be a mind-reader – to make such a claim. Norman Granz WAS there, knew both men, and says nothing of the sort.
Gene, THAT'S what I wanna read. Fluent, articulate disagreement is OK by me. And actually, I do admit that the band COULD be sharing a private joke that has nothing to do with Bird v Hawk. That said, Bird destroys Hawk MUSICALLY, which was really my initial point. I like Hawk's playing, in particular that strong second solo. But, he's just not in the same league as Parker. I'm sure Bird admired him … though, I stand by my claim of Prez idolatry … but he dwarfs Hawkins with explosions of creativity. That's why I keep coming back to Bird and why I posted the video in the first place. Also, see my follow-up post about Bird's Dial sessions.
Thanks.
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Nice post!