Thank you Art Pepper for mentioning Lester Young.The single biggest influence on the evolution of Bird's style.
These were the records these musicians of this generation were listening to...Count Basie..."Lester leaps in" "Taxi war dance" "Tickle toe" the list goes on.There was a whole generation of saxophonists who nursed that approach to improvisation {Stan Getz}and there was another,later generation of players that followed Coleman Hawkins' more forceful and direct approach-John Coltrane.Then there was another that combined the two-Dexter Gordon/Gene Ammons.
Don't forget the impact of Ben Webster during the glorious Ellington late 30's,his influence on the concept of ballad playing is undeniable.Prez,Hawk,Ben all played their best music before the Bebop era and each grappled with their own private adaptation of what became the norm in Jazz.This all has to be considered in the mix.
Whatever Pepper says,everytime he picked up his horn and played one of those way uptempo tunes like "straight life" or something based on "Cherokee" he was gunning for Bird.That was the highest mark of the state of the art and the competition was fierce.That is simply the nature of the beast.Also by 1952 when Pepper was coming well into his own Parker was finished and all bets were off on who was the best.But who cares really? They were all great and amazing and thrilling and each had something special to bring.Some more than others.One of Lester Young's little sayings was "You can't join the throng until you write your own song".I leave you with that.
These were the records these musicians of this generation were listening to...Count Basie..."Lester leaps in" "Taxi war dance" "Tickle toe" the list goes on.There was a whole generation of saxophonists who nursed that approach to improvisation {Stan Getz}and there was another,later generation of players that followed Coleman Hawkins' more forceful and direct approach-John Coltrane.Then there was another that combined the two-Dexter Gordon/Gene Ammons.
Don't forget the impact of Ben Webster during the glorious Ellington late 30's,his influence on the concept of ballad playing is undeniable.Prez,Hawk,Ben all played their best music before the Bebop era and each grappled with their own private adaptation of what became the norm in Jazz.This all has to be considered in the mix.
Whatever Pepper says,everytime he picked up his horn and played one of those way uptempo tunes like "straight life" or something based on "Cherokee" he was gunning for Bird.That was the highest mark of the state of the art and the competition was fierce.That is simply the nature of the beast.Also by 1952 when Pepper was coming well into his own Parker was finished and all bets were off on who was the best.But who cares really? They were all great and amazing and thrilling and each had something special to bring.Some more than others.One of Lester Young's little sayings was "You can't join the throng until you write your own song".I leave you with that.