****Charley Parker had many better recordings than strings!****
True; no one is arguing that point. Still, great to hear Bird in that setting.
This brings up an issue that has always been interesting to me. Obviously, a listener's personal taste has to be respected, but when a great artist says, unequivocally, that he/she likes a particular work of theirs (Bird said BWS was his favorite) or a particular sideman, IMO the most productive attitude is that even if we don't agree at first (or ever!), an attempt should be made to understand why it is that the artist himself that we so admire feels that way. Seems to me that is the best way to fully understand the artist or a particular work and grow as a listener. In this case Bird was saying: "Look, I can be more than just the relentless bebopper that I am known to be; I can play with more delicacy than what most of my records demonstrate". Who am I to argue with that.
True; no one is arguing that point. Still, great to hear Bird in that setting.
This brings up an issue that has always been interesting to me. Obviously, a listener's personal taste has to be respected, but when a great artist says, unequivocally, that he/she likes a particular work of theirs (Bird said BWS was his favorite) or a particular sideman, IMO the most productive attitude is that even if we don't agree at first (or ever!), an attempt should be made to understand why it is that the artist himself that we so admire feels that way. Seems to me that is the best way to fully understand the artist or a particular work and grow as a listener. In this case Bird was saying: "Look, I can be more than just the relentless bebopper that I am known to be; I can play with more delicacy than what most of my records demonstrate". Who am I to argue with that.