A question about Charlie Parker tunes...

[jamminoutloud1]

Hey guys,
I have the Omnibook and am trying to decide on a few tunes to really focus on for the next few weeks to months...you know, the solos.
A lot of them seem pretty tough...with streams of 32nd notes, etc.
Can you guys reccomend some of the easier and hipper tunes form that book that really got your bebop lines going?
Thanks!!! Also, if you could tell me which cd the tunes they are off, that would be great, so I could listen to it note for note as well.

[spencerbk]

Three of my favorites to play are Orinthology, Moose the Mooche (both on the Dial years box set), and Kim No. 1 (which is in a Verve compliation called Confirmation, otherwise not my favorite CD).

That said - I wouldn't say my bebop lines are "going" and I'm nowhere near being able to play those close to the recorded tempo. Kim is listed at 320 bpm! I can vouch that the licks on those tunes are fun to play along with a slowed down Aebersold CD though. Also, I can say that the Dial/Savoy 3CD Master Takes box is unbelievably good and you should buy it no matter what.

[JimmyD]

[quote=jamminoutloud1]Hey guys,
I have the Omnibook and am trying to decide on a few tunes to really focus on for the next few weeks to months...you know, the solos.
A lot of them seem pretty tough...with streams of 32nd notes, etc.
Can you guys reccomend some of the easier and hipper tunes form that book that really got your bebop lines going?
quote]

I am not an authority on jazz guitar like alot of players on this resource are, but I believe I'm essentially headed in the same direction as you. I want to be able to play vertically over the changes, I want to play authentic sounding phrases etc.

While I do have the Omnibook and have used it in the past it hasn't all been that helpful to me because I essentially was not ready to assimilate the solos in a way that made sense to me with the end result being in having an arsenal of phrases I could use on the bandstand. What I have been finding out is that there are no significant shortcuts to learning jazz. However, in this day and age there definetly learning materials that can make tremendous sense out of the "fog of jazz". I believe that most of the material contained within the Omnibook can be found in his complete Dial and Savoy session recordings. What I've found useful to my jazz pursuits follows.

Rene DiStefano has a website that I was able to download some excellent examples of the jazz idiom written about from the mechanical perspective. Why does this work etc.

Cory Christiansen has a book called something like essential Charlie Parker for guitar which outlines and explains some nice ideas that are easily moved around the neck.

Les Wise has a newer book on jazz phrases over dominants, ii-v-i's etc that I've found more useful then his over abundent earlier resource called the "Bebop Bible".

Les Wise also has a tape that explains in great detail arpeggio substitutions that imparts alot of excellent and useful knowledge.

Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe bits and pieces of music you like. Not whole choruses, maybe 8 bars here, 4 bars there.

David Bakers books on how to learn bebop are quite simply required reading. Probably among the finest resources out there IMHO.

Listen to alot of Grant Green and Wes Montgomery also!

Find a good solid teacher that you are compatible with!!!

Consider some of all of these aids noted above and then when you get a handle on the vocabulary and makeup of single note bop lines, your understanding of Parkers phrases will make more sense. For me it was important to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals before going ahead with the doubletime phrases.

YMMV and I hope this helps.

Jim

[neve1073]

i don't have it in front of me and it's been years since i worked with it, but check out some of the blues tunes like blues for alice. segment is also a very cool, underplayed tune.

[jamminoutloud1]

Thanks so much guys!!! Very contstructive. I can play Jazz quite descently at the moment...I mean I play it every day, going to college in Miami studying this stuff. I just need to work on my flow and swinging better. I mean, I have a lot of licks and lines...but the way I flow the lines together and go from phrase to phrase can seem kind of unsmoothful. That's why I thought if I keep transcribing full solos or atleast half of solos, I can have a lot of great ii-v-i or blues ideas that will flow on most Jazz tunes. You know?

[bluejack]

I remember reading awhile back an interview of someone of some reknown who mentioned that you could pick up most of Parker's licks by studying 'Anthropology', ' Orinithology' , Confirmation' and ' Moose the Mooche' Wish i could recall the person but i did write those four tunes down.
That said, what got me going was starting with some of the blues and/or slower tunes. ' KC Blues'. Ballade' 'My Little Suede Shoes' , 'Billie's Bounce' ,etc.
Lastly, keep in mind the bebopper's practice of 'contrafact'. Where they would take an existing chord progression and write a new head to it. Look at all the tunes based on rhythm changes for example. --- 'Moose' , Red Cross', 'Steeplechase' , 'Thriving on a Riff' and ' An Oscar forThreadwell'
Love learning those lines on guitar as it really takes you to new and different fingerings!
Johnny

[jamminoutloud1]

Just to be sure...is this the cd you guys are talking about that has the right recordings for most of the songs in the Omnibook?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/sam...ng=UTF8#disc_1

[jamminoutloud1]

???

[free_jazz]

I'd suggest listening, playing along, and transcribing... this way you develop your Ear and The Feel. Try to use solo transcriptions only as a last resort, as a way to double-check your own "discoveries," if you will.
So, If you're _listening_ to Bird, and you hear a phrase you want to nail, try to be able to sing it and work it out on your appliance. (It may or may not be in 32nd's and it won't matter how it looks on paper -- that's someone else's interpretation).
You'll not only discover "Bird," you'll also gradually develop your own direction through bigger Ears and Feel.

[harryjmic]

I have that book as well and what I have done is to take short segments (II-V-I's) and play just those. I never spent much time with learning complete tunes because of the same problems you mentioned. Good tunes in that book are, Donna Lee, Yardbird Suite, Now's the Time and Blue Bird I think (slower tune page 76?). A lot of Parker's or really anyones ideas are repeated over and over, find these lines first then move on to other stuff later.

[bluejack]

Addressing which cds one would need to have the tunes in the omnibook. The one which you linked to Amazon would be nice but not sure if you need The Complete. Don't think the Dial stuff and alternate takes is neccessary. The one i have is called Charlie Parker-Bird The Savoy Recordings(Master Takes) Vols. 1 & 2. Savoy Jazz ZDS 4402. I got them as two cds but pretty sure they're also available now as a 2 cd set. The vinyl version is a two record set SJL 2201.
Then there's the Verve material. I only have these on vinyl. This is comprised of 3 two record sets. They are The Verve Years(1948-50) VE-2-2501, The Verve Years(1950-51) VE-2-2512, The Verve Years(1952-54) VE-2-2523.
Best of luck on your quest,
Johnny

[mtfingers]

Man, if you can cop the head to Donna Lee and Scrapple from the Apple, you won't have to worry about any solos....its all in there!

I use to transcribe Parker stuff waayyyy back when I was in my 20's, and at the time, I was mystified by all those notes. Now I can basically hear what's going on, and the chord changes are very simple because they are based off of standards. Here are the tools that you will probably need most: arpeggios, melodic minor scales, and the ability to chromaticize at will.

BTW....My favorite soloing he does is on a ballad called Embracable You. There are a million versions of this tune, like there are for most of the rest, but try to cop a good recording of this one.