Bird Songs

Joe Lovano | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 11, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B004EE30G4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,112 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

"I didn't approach this as a tribute record," states Joe Lovano, dispelling right off the bat any preconception that his new album Bird Songs--an exploration of the Charlie Parker songbook--is a mere retread. Lovano's 22nd album for Blue Note Records (the release of which will mark his 20th year on the label) breaks the mold of Bird tribute records. Bird Songs is a thrillingly adventurous, thoroughly modern, and uniquely personal look at one of the most influential figures in jazz history by one of the most important voices in the music today. Us Five turned out to be the perfect vehicle for his exploration. Lovano's dynamic young band--which features drummers Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist James Weidman--has been captivating audiences around the world for several years now. Their debut recording--2009's Folk Art--was a wide-ranging set of Lovano's original compositions that resulted in Us Five being awarded Best Small Ensemble of the Year at the 2010 JJA Jazz Awards and winning the Best Jazz Group of the Year category in the 2010 DownBeat Critics Poll. Lovano completed a double-triple of awards by also winning the JJA's Musician and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, and DownBeat's Jazz Artist and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. "Putting this recording together I kept wondering how Bird would have developed within these tunes, not just as the incredible soloist that he was but as an arranger and band leader. From what we know about him it is clear that he was into the world of music beyond so called Jazz and Be Bop and I'm sure we would have all been surprised at every turn in his approach just as we were with Miles, Coltrane, Rollins and Coleman, four of his most distinguished and celebrated disciples. At the young age of 34 Charlie Parker passed and left us with all of these questions about what would be. This recording is my humble attempt to answer some of those questions in my own way."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a 'tribute', a uniqe and interesting spin January 12, 2011

By Matthew Miller VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Charlie Parker was certainly one of the most important jazz musicians historically, and practically every horn player struggles to get his licks down. It is only natural that they try and play tribute sometimes, as Joe Lovano has done here. Unfortunately, that sort of tribute can easily sound derivative, a tired retread of the Bebop idiom that is neither unique from nor better than what Parker himself would have played. Why not just listen to Bird play it better? This is not such a tribute, it is a unique and interesting evolution of Parker's music, with such a wonderful idiosyncratic spin that they could just as easily have been all been Lovano originals.

Tackling the Parker songbook is Lovano's wonderful double drum quintet 'Us Five' consisting of James Weidman on piano, the spectacular Esperanze Spalding on bass and the drum talents of Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela. The real strength of this band is the strong sense of interplay between its members, particularly the two drummers, who trade back and forth with audible glee. The band has stripped these songs down to their elements and built them back up in a way that is entirely their own. 'Barbados' retains the Carribbean feel of Parker's original interpretations and sticks largely to form, but most of the other cuts have been very much re-interpreted. My favorite cut, 'Moose the Much' builds almost a round like groove in the bass and piano with little elements taken from the melody, while Joe swings through the slow groove of song itself. "Ko Ko", now a sax and two drums trio, has become almost a free-exploration of Charlie Parker and the bebop idiom, playing little snippets of traditional bebop phrasing while cycling through keys with a fluid sense of time. Capping the album is their take on "Yardbird suite" which has become, in Lovano's words, a hymn. It is slow and elegant, hardly recognizable as a take on Parker, but beautiful. As it cycles from the main statements of the melody to the solos, it picks up a bit and we are treated to a great waltz groove.

All in all, this feels much more like a Joe Lovano album than it does a tribute to Bird. Sometimes Bird's influence shines through the album, but just as often it is much more subtle. If you are at all familiar with the Joe Lovano Us Five's first album "Folk Art", you should know the range and depth of this band, and this album is a worthy successor to that debut. The band is dynamic and Lovano keeps every track fresh, choosing new styles and interpretations and switching horns often, from his standard tenor, to a straight alto, his famous 'aulochrome' double soprano and on 'Lover Man' the rarely used G mezzo soprano. From start to finish this album was a pleasure. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bird Songs June 5, 2011

By David Cross

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Charlie Parker provided the first soundtrack to modern jazz. Bird's music was everything you could possibly want to be. It was joyful and wise, exuberant and yearning, comical and very, very serious. He had somehow found a way to encompass the universe of human emotions within the confines of a three minute record. His solos were not merely the greatest music anyone had ever heard - they were a language all their own. Parker's music was so overwhelming that any jazz player picking up an alto saxophone - then or now - does so at risk of having his or her personality submerged into Bird's. Joe Lovano's new CD, Bird Songs, is his own personal exploration of Parker's music, largely through the legend's own compositions.
Tenor saxophonist Lovano, who is fifty-nine, is quite possibly the most exciting jazz musician putting out records these days. His palette is a large one, and includes almost every type of jazz, be it free, big band, or quartet. His music with the Paul Motion Trio is cerebral and cutting-edge, while his recent work with Hank Jones is of the tradition without in any way being derivative. What unites all of this music is the freshness and creativity of his arrangements and the warmth of his playing, his tone like a fine wood fire on a winter night. Lovano gives a lie to the canard that in order to create great art, the artist must suffer. While Van Gogh found it necessary to put his inner-turmoil onto the canvas, Lovano appears to be far more interested in sharing his inner-joy. Bird Songs is such a delight, from the first note to the last, that it somehow exceeds the high expectations Lovano generates as a matter of course.
A successful tribute album requires a creative union of the artist and his subject and should give birth to something entirely new. This is what we have with Bird Songs. It is all Lovano. And still, it is such a loving and original exploration of Bird and his music, that Parker's genius hovers throughout. Lovano doesn't need to "quote" Bird any more than Oliver would need to quote Shakespeare or Ramblin' Jack Elliot would need to quote Woody Guthrie. Parker's universe is part of the air he breathes.
Lovano's approach and arrangements are always wildly creative without any attempt at musical revolution. The only boundaries he seeks to transcend are the staid and the formulaic. The CD starts out with Passport, the artist effortlessly going back and forth between an easy swing and a double time tempo. Yes, he is telling us, Bird could play fast, faster than anyone. But what separated him from all of the others was the incredible soul of his playing, the fact that it was always there, no matter what the tempo. Lots of people can duplicate Bird's greatest acrobatic turns of phrase, but few can match the soulful intensity that he always exhibited.
Lovano takes Moose the Mooche, Bird's tribute to his heroin supplier, strips it bare and turns it into a slow, sultry stunner. Then there is the glorious version of Lover Man, a song well known to all Ornithologists because it marked the nadir of Bird's career, played at a session in which Parker was so out of sorts that the producer had to hold him in front of the saxophone to keep him from spinning around. Bird's playing that day was a cry for help. Lovano uses a G mezzo soprano to play a solo that is pure and stunningly beautiful. And then there is the slow, subtle, and thoughtful treatment to Yardbird Suite, Lovano taking his time, coming at the piece from different angles and showing just how gorgeous were Parker's written melodies.
This band is outstanding. From James Weidman's mesmerizing piano playing to the intense rhythmic presence of the two drummers, Otis Brown and Francisca Mela, this is a group of great players responding to each other, and not just a soloist being backed up by a competent rhythm section.
To create a tribute album to Charlie Parker that is worthy of its namesake is an almost impossible challenge, but it is one that Lovano meets with the suave, thoughtful ease of a true master. Bird Songs is an album that every jazz fan will want to include in their collection.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Contrary Review May 6, 2011

By Nimzo-Karpov

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Joe Lovano is capable of playing some great music. Try Live at the Village Vanguard or with McCoy Tyner, Live a Joshies. I've seen him three times. Once with Ms. Spalding and he puts on a great show. This is a so-so album. It doesn't particulary swing and the music doesn't seem to go anywhere. He seems bored. This is just my take on it. Take it for what it's worth.