Now's the time
Now's the Time is a jazz standard that Charlie Parker wrote in 1945.
Origin and structure of the piece
Now's the Time is a Jazz Blues in moderate pace and is based on a Swing - reef (c, f, g). Now's the Time was recorded by Parker and Miles Davis on the legendary Koko session in December 1945 ( The Charlie Parker Story ) and quickly became a popular jam session number in the bebop scene .
In the piece, a chorus consists of twelve bars; this structure is taken from the blues . The basic key (tonic) of the piece is F7, the dominant C7 and the subdominant B7. Charlie Parker varies the typical blues harmony in some places. For example, as the sound G minor in the Blue scheme of the first Chorus: F7-F7-F7-F7-B7-B7 (+ B0) -F7-F7-Gmoll7-C7-F7-C7. The harmony sequence Gmoll7-C7-F7 is a typical jazz chord combination called the 2-5-1 connection.
Impact history
While the critics of Down Beat in 1946 found the first recording "not worthy of the worst rating, the Savoy producers recognized the commercial potential of the number immediately: they bought the copyright to the composition from Parker in the studio - for fifty dollars." 1949 used Paul Williams to on the reef and other parts of the composition its rhythm and blues -Hit the Hucklebuck build.
Now's the Time became one of Charlie Parker's best-known compositions and "has been part of the basic repertoire of all boppers and bluesers for more than fifty years". She was also performed by Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers , Ray Bryant , Terry Gibbs / Don Elliott , Dexter Gordon , Lionel Hampton / Buddy DeFranco , Bobby Jaspar , Keith Jarrett , Eddie Jefferson , Budd Johnson , Jay Jay Johnson , Joe Pass , the Modern Jazz Quartet , Oscar Peterson , Bud Powell , Sonny Rollins , Idrees Sulieman , Lucky Thompson and Ernie Wilkins / Kenny Clarke .
Version by Eddie Jefferson
On January 19, 1959, Eddie Jefferson published his interpretation of Now's the Time on the album The Jazz Singer . According to Jefferson, this album is a "vocal improvisation of famous jazz solos" (sung improvisation of famous jazz solos).
Melody
In his melodic improvisation he builds triplets and quintuplets that make the music sound rushed, which is atypical for the blues, but typical for jazz .
Lyrics analysis
At the beginning of the song, Eddie Jefferson invites his listeners to think about Charlie Parker with him . He mentions the hard life and death of Charlie Parker, the good and the bad of being a musician. Charlie Parker's music moves Eddie Jefferson, it fills him with life. His music made history. Charlie Parker created an "art of the soul" with his music, real masterpieces. Charlie Parker is also known as "Bird". He is from Kansas City and despite the bad conditions he made the best of his life. Charlie, in the eyes of Eddie Jefferson, has filled people's hearts with joy and he, too, loves to listen. He blows away everything bad with his saxophone and this makes him a master of the saxophone. Eddie Jefferson never thought that Charlie Parker's music would ever mean so much to him, but then he heard the first song and saw it as a message to be free. In order to feel this "feeling" better, he went to one of his gigs in New York and he was thrilled again. At the beginning and the end of the song it is said that despite his bad life under difficult conditions, he took his chances. Because Charlie Parker's time was there and it still is. He will never be forgotten, he lives on in the hearts of his fans. For this reason, Eddie Jefferson wrote this text to the composition by Charlie Parker. He saw Charlie Parker as his idol and considered it an honor to be able to listen to his music. He wrote the lyrics, so to speak, in memory of Charlie Parker and as a sign that "Bird" is still alive.
Epoch classification
The title Now's the Time was composed in the bebop style. This style includes great rhythmic freedom, a very high tempo and complex harmonics . This style also includes broken phrasing . The appearance of the work is hectic for a number of reasons. On the one hand, the song is played “harder”, which means that the first and third beats are emphasized, and the composer also uses diminished fifths ( tritones ). The artists mostly used old pieces, but only took over the chords and improvised the rest. Therefore the Eddie Jefferson version of Now's the Time is not jazz in the classical sense, because Eddie Jefferson completely covered the song by Charlie Parker and only added the lyrics. Eddie Jefferson copied the entire notation in homage to Charlie Parker.
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 4th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
- Peter Niklas Wilson , Ulfert Goeman: Charlie Parker. Oreos, Schaftlach 1988, ISBN 3-923657-12-9 .
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .