Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project

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Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project
Studio album by Anthony Braxton

Publication
(s)

1993

Label (s) HatHut Records

Format (s)

2 CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

15th

running time

130: 19

occupation

production

Ulrich Kurth and Werner X. Uehlinger

Studio (s)

Rote Fabrik , Zurich , large broadcasting hall of the WDR, Cologne

chronology
Trio (London) 1993
(1993) 		Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project The Braxton Quartet Plays Twelve Braxton Compositions
(1993)
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Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project is a jazz album by Anthony Braxton , which was recorded on October 21 in Roten Fabrik in Zurich and on October 22 and 23, 1993 in the large broadcasting hall of the WDR in Cologne and released by the jazz label HatHut Records .

The album

The avant-garde musician and composer Braxton had already dealt with the jazz tradition in the 1970s and 1980s; for one, he recorded several albums with jazz standards , such as In the Tradition for Steeplechase (1974) and Seven Standards, 1985 (on Windham Hill ); on the other hand, he devoted himself to the work of a single composer, as in 1987 in his Thelonious Monk project Six Monk's Compositions (1987) . Similarly, the 1993 album is also dedicated to a single artist (as a musician as well as a composer), namely the bebop pioneer Charlie Parker and the repertoire he interpreted and composed.
In an interview that Anthony Braxton conducted six months before the Parker recordings, he clarified his approach to “tradition”, which he sees as a counter-position to the neo-traditionalists of the 1980s and 1990s. “Tradition” is only one component in the further development of his music; at the same time, he sees the Parker project - like the previous projects in this direction - as a reference to musical role models in his early development, such as Clifford Jordan , whose composition Toy he played in 1985, and Warne Marsh ( Eight (+3) Tristano Compositions 1989: For Warne Marsh , 1989) as well as forgotten pioneers such as Gigi Gryce , Jimmy Woods , Anthony Ortega and Giuseppi Logan and finally Joe Henderson , whom he admired and whose composition Punjab Braxton particularly emphasizes. Braxton also emphasizes the importance of the blues as the central characteristic that one must approach appropriately in order to enter Parker's music.

Braxton played at the concert in Zurich and the two studio sessions in Cologne with a sextet made up of saxophonist Ari Brown , trumpeter Paul Smoker , pianist Misha Mengelberg , bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Han Bennink (in Zurich), respectively four numbers Pheeroan akLaff in Cologne. The program consisted of classic titles from the bebop repertoire, such as Parker's legendary composition "Koko" from the Savoy session in 1945 , his "Yardbird Suite" (from the time of Parker's recordings for Dial Records in 1946) and "Scrapple fro the Apple" ( from the late recordings for Savoy Records 1947) and his performances at the Royal Roost in 1949, but also Dizzy Gillespie's “Bebop” and “ A Night in Tunisia ” and Tadd Dameron's “ Hot House ”; In addition, there were relatively unknown Parker compositions such as “Dewey Square” (1947), “Klactoveesedsteene” (1947), “An Oscar for Treadwell” (1950), “Bongo Bop” (1947), “Passport” (1949), “Mohawk "(1950), and" Sippin 'at Bells "(1947, by Miles Davis ).

“Yardbird Suite” starts in a lost and melancholy mood, revolves around the theme and with swinging play a while evokes nostalgia. After a sweet saxophone solo, the pianist comes in a Monk style, dismantling the melody with short bursts until trumpeter Paul Smoker creates tension. Other pieces, on the other hand, are treated with an even higher degree of intensity, abstraction and interference with the original version; With overblowing techniques , vocal interjections and sections of collective improvisation, the material is approached again and again, as in the twelve-minute "Dewey Square".

Braxton set contrasts through the use of different wind instruments; so he used the sopranino, flute and also the double bass clarinet (rarely played in jazz) in “Scrapple from the Apple” and “Sippin 'at Bells”.

Album pieces

Han Bennink (2005)
  • Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project (HatOLOGY 2-612)

CD 1

  1. " Hot House " ( Tadd Dameron ) 15:05
  2. " A Night in Tunisia " ( Dizzy Gillespie ) 9:03
  3. "Dewey Square" 12:28
  4. "Klactoveesedsteene" 8:46
  5. "To Oscar for Treadwell" 19:37

CD 2

  1. "Bebop" (Dizzy Gillespie) 8:22
  2. "Bongo Bop" 6:45
  3. "A Night in Tunisia" (Dizzy Gillespie) 8:28
  4. "Passport" 6:30
  5. "Scrapple for the Apple" 5:15
  6. "Mohawk" 2:45
  7. "Sippin 'at Bells" ( Miles Davis ) 4:08
  8. "Koko" 4:08

All other compositions are by Charlie Parker.

Impact history

Misha Mengelberg (2004)

Richard Cook and Brian Morton described the Charlie Parker Project in the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings as an exceptional album; they point to Braxton's deep understanding of bebop's formal idiom, as in his amazing and expansive interpretations of "Dewey Square" and "An Oscar for Treadwell"; they awarded it the second highest rating. Compared to the relatively conventional rhythm sections of the other standard projects, Mengelberg and Bennink set scratchy, subversive accents here.
Scott Yanow in Allmusic , who gave the Parker Project four stars, mentions that Braxton only uses the Parker melodies as a basis for his colorful and often astonishing improvisations. He does not feel affected by the old limitations of the 1940s and 50s and prefers to pay homage to the spirit and risk of Charlie Parker with his approach rather than to recreate the past. The passionate and incalculable result is definitely stimulating and full of surprises, fresh ideas and wit.

Editorial notes

The original sessions lasted three days - the concert in Zurich and two studio days in Cologne. Some titles were not recorded for technical reasons. The new edition with the new remastering fell victim to the original cover design (the album is - according to the current design line - provided with a photo of a cityscape at night). The essays by Peter Niklas Wilson and Alex Dutilh have been replaced by an interview by Graham Lock with Braxton in the liner notes. Pia Uehlinger is not mentioned as co-producer in the new edition.

Literature / sources

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ See liner notes from Graham Lock's album
  2. ↑ Some of the Cologne studio recordings were made without drums.