Customer Reviews

Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've lived a great many years on this planet, the majority of which have been accompanied by the sounds of Charlie Parker. Early on, I heard Bird's music direct from the source - Parker himself, who was, by all standards, one of a kind. Even before Bird passed in 1955, practically every player in jazz was, in some way or another, emulating his artistry. Still to this day, jazz musicians the world over hitch ride upon ride on Bird's creative coattails like some many-headed high horse of traditionalism gone far astray from its source by way of simply staying too close to home. Charlie Parker would not like what jazz has become: a shell of its former self; not much more than an apelike imitation of its bygone glory days; a bunch of recycled aluminum cans that used to be the brightest star in the night sky. That star was Bird - the original punk rocker; the original hip hopper; the original American Idol (or mine, at least). In all the years since Bird's passing, I hadn't ever heard a fitting tribute to the man more responsible than anyone else for what went on to become not only contemporary jazz, but rock and roll, hip hop and every other important musical movement this side of the 50's... until now. Bird Up - The Charlie Parker Remix Project is precisely that fitting tribute. If you believe in the raw genius that Bird brought to the table first, or even if you're intrigued by it and want to know more, then, along with some of Bird's original masterpieces (preferably those recorded in the mid to late 40's), run out and get your hands on a copy of this record. Bird's rebellious spirit lives in it. Unlike your typical jazz musician's paltry efforts to mimic Bird's stylings, this group of young musical mavericks have constructed a provocative, youthful, deeply loving eulogy which sings Charlie Parker's praises all the way up to the high heavens - straight to the source. Don't walk. For the love of Bird, run and wrap your mind around this outstanding record.

This album is amazing. I've never heard anything like it before. It feels like a rollercoaster ride into the future. I didn't know enough about Charlie Parker before I heard it, but I now know that he was a true genius who left a deep impression on so many other geniuses who followed in his footsteps, a select few of whom make their visionary presence felt alongside his on this unprecedented recording.

From the album's completely appropriate first three words ("Now's the Time" - courtesy of Red Hawk) through the disintegration of it's final cosmic note (courtesy of El-P), Bird Up is so full of unexpected twists and turns that it feels more like a virtual reality adventure than any CD I've ever heard.

Some of my favorites are "Bird of Paradise (Gone)" - a mind blowing portrait of love by Serj Tankian of System of a Down; "Congo Blues (Silencer)" - a truly wild journey through the African jungle with Donk, Ravi Coltrane, Wild Children, Hubert Laws and Kodo; "Bebop (Live at the Rooftop)" and "Cheers (X-ecutioners Style) - courtesy of samurai master producer/MC The RZA and scratch kings the X-ecutioners, respectively - two of the most stirring and inspired juxtapositions of jazz and hip-hop I've ever heard; and "A Night in Tunisia (Downpour)" - another highly wild track courtesy of Donk, the Coconut Tree and Kodo.

Make no mistake. There is not a dull moment on this entire recording. Before this, I can recall five times that I've made that statement about one album's worth of material: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue; The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper; Dr. John - Gris Gris; The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique; and Nas - Illmatic. Ironically, Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project combines the finest elements of each of those genre stretching albums into one brilliant tribute to one of the most fearless revolutionaries of the 20th century. New ground has been broken. The 21st century has officially begun. Now is indeed the time.

Oh my stars...

Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project is the best album I've heard in my young life. It's momentous. I love the way it takes amazingly brilliant artists from all different types of music and brings them together to start one big party. It truly has no boundaries. It rocks in the car. It makes it feel like you're in a spaceship. It's not for the faint of heart. I wouldn't want anyone to fall out of they're rocking chair... or would I?

My favourite tracks are as follows:

"Bird of Paradise (Gone)" - featuring rock God Serj Tankian of System of a Down

"Congo Blues (Silencer)" & "A Night in Tunisia (Downpour)" - both produced by the new and future King of musical expressionism Donk, with sultry science provided by heir to the throne of jazz Ravi Coltrane and otherworldly oracles of the primordial sea The Coconut Tree, respectively

"Constellation (Heavenly Bodies)" - courtesy of underground hip-hop Czar El-P featuring the Goddess Stephanie Vezina on voice

Whoo-wee... I could go on for days and nights. And this album will go on eternally. It really moves me. And if you have a pulse and an innate sense of adventure, it will blow your mind into the next dimension...

The disc, as you are probably aware by now, is a nice little mash up of classic Bird material with touches of breakbeat, downtempo, rap, and even a little dub.

First of all, this CD won't change your life. It's not anything that we haven't heard before. It is, however, a fun little melange to enjoy on a sunny summer afternoon. It's a happy disc, and Bird's vigor and joy are not lost in the reworkings. In that sense, the disc is a success on the whole. It's also a nice contrast of styles from RZA, Dan the Automator, El-P, Ndegeocello, etc.

The only real weakness to my ears is track 4. Tankian's yelling just doesn't work with jazz and is actually painful.

To those reviewers who get all in a twist about this being a blasphemous mutilation of Bird, get over yourself. Deconstrucion and reworking and chopping of classic music into a modern style is a vital artistic endeavor. I think this process is one of the best ways to reinvigorate interest in the originals for a new generation of listeners. "Higher than though" traditionalists guarding the original art from being re-examined is a sad state of affairs for any art form. Jazz is a living, breathing, changing thing, and to want to restrict it in an effort to "protect" the original manifestation of that movement is in fact stiffling to Jazz's natural evolution. Frankly, I bet Bird would love to hear this disc, if only to hear how a new generation play with his music.

Now let me simply state the facts:

1. Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project is without question the finest jazz remix album ever recorded. Its musicality and depth of character, past and present, make Verve and Blue Note's recent forays into the vaults sound trite by comparison.

2. Though Bird Up packs a serious wallop of unadulterated star power (Serj from System of a Down, RZA, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kronos Quartet, X-ecutioners), it's balanced out not only by its multi-dimensional worldwide underground representation (El-P, Hal Willner, Ravi Coltrane, Kodo, Mocean Worker), but by some exceptional performances by fresh new faces (Deke Damascus, Donk, Stephanie Vezina, Redback, Coconut Tree). And don't sleep on Dr. John the Night Tripper.

3. The highly diverse contemporary artists paying homage to Bird on this album are virtuosic rebels one and all, forming an alliance in the name of their creative ancestor (not to mention alongside him). As an experiment, this results in some seriously evolved new sounds.

4. Charlie Parker, in and of himself, is the thread that ties the album together. Though each artist incorporates him in their own unique way, we, the listeners, can feel Bird's powerful presence looming large throughout each and every beautifully unpredictable track.

5. If it's the truth you're after, find this album. The rest is history.

This disc really didn't do too much for me. Keep in mind that doesn't mean that you shouldn't buy this because this is very much going to be an individual preference type thing. It just wasn't my cup of tea, that's all. So my rating is solely based on my personal experience and should not deter those who feel they would be interested in this.

There have been some flames thrown between reviewers on this album so let me just say this: I think it is great that these guys got together and decided to do a tribute to Charlie Parker. I would also hope that people would purchase Bird's original recordings as well so they can get an idea of what his music was really like and hopefully get an idea of how much of a true genius the man was. There have been complaints of snobbery by other reviewers and an unwillingness of older generations to accept the music of younger generations. I will say this: I am a musician and in my mid twenties and I will freely admit that when it comes to snobbery in music my generation and the ones younger than me tend to be the snobs most of the time. There are so many younger people nowadays who have no knowledge (and don't care to learn about) the musicains that came before them. That truly is a shame because we must always keep in mind that if it wasn't for those who came before us, we wouldn't be here. And I do agree with the statement that music today is way too much about image and not about making good music. I also agree with the statement that house and hip hop have their roots in jazz. Now here's another question for you: Before you go ripping on older people for not realizing that house and hip hop came out of jazz, how many younger people today know that those musical forms have their roots in jazz and could name any of those great jazz musicians that came first and paved the way for the house/hip hop guys out there today?

Finally, there's been the question of whether or not Bird would have liked this recording. Would Bird have approved of this recording? Who can say? He's not here to give his opinion and I'm not going to go putting words into the man's mouth.

Finding young people that hold a genuine interest in Jazz is rare, if even possible. If you do find a few, chances are they listen more to Medeski, Martin, and Wood or other Contemporary/Progressive Jazz groups than they listen to the classics like Charlie Parker or Miles Davis. Yet, Jazz musicians like Parker have served as insiprational sources for countless successful musicians and artists. In tribute to Parker, this compilation has united current day musicians of different genres to create a Progressive Jazz album that serves to expose today's youth to the beauty of Parker's music.

I have yet to find a person--be them teacher, friend, or associate--who has not been blown away by the sheer originality each track possesses. Everyone has imediately asked me to burn them a copy; everyone has been hooked from the start. From Serj Tankian's track to Dan the Automator's, each song grips you by the ears and fills your body with a resonant sound that leaves your inner soul clamouring for more.

Some call this album blasphemous, but all revolutions have been scorned at first. This album serves to revolutionize the way younger generations see Jazz. Today's youths and young adults may now see Jazz for the magical mastery it truly is and not as the soon to be forgotten music of their grandparents.

Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project is a mind blowing CD. I felt like I traveled to a whole new dimension with the album's futuristic, fresh and exciting sound. I think of it as the United Nations of CD's because it's such a great representation of the world of music today.

From the first alluring song on the album, Red Hawk's Now's The Time (No Time Like Now), I was hooked and knew I had to get this CD.

I love every song on this album that's why I especially like to listen to it on my CD Walkman. I feel so cool and free as I walk down the street. It puts a lot of extra pep in my step.

For those of you looking for an amazing muscial adventure, here is your answer.

Ever had the experience of hearing a song you liked on the radio, buying the album, and feeling like you were tricked? Based on hearing Track 11 on the local jazz station I assumed the rest of the record would be a similarly joyful homage to Bird and his transcendent music. Uh, no. I never thought it would be possible for an album allegedly inspired by Bird to be so depressing, leaden and boring. Maybe there's a market for this sort of "music" and there's no accounting for taste, but only buy this CD if you like muddy machine-like noise. Bird does not live in these tracks.

As an avid listener and supporter of jazz, R&B, and techno in all of it's various jazz-related forms (acid jazz, triphop, etc.) I was a bit disappointed by this album. Perhaps it was because I was so excited after reading the back cover and seeing so many of my favorite producers on there (X-ecutioners/Dan the Automator/etc).

But after the first few listens, I was left feeling like I didn't "get it". Production on some of the tracks sounded a bit rushed quality-wise, and I was really disappointed with the two tracks that consisted merely of late-90's sounding breakbeats underlying looped jazz riffs. Other tracks sounded like feeble attempts to do what Amon Tobin had done about seven years ago.

On the positive side, high-expectation tracks such as the one by the X-ecutioners made me think "Hm, that's pretty cool". However, due to their annoyingly repetitive nature I can't see myself ever listening to them more than a few times.

I think one of the biggest problems with this album is the fact that many of the producers involved, even though adept at assembling breaks/textures/soundscapes from preassembled parts, are simply out of their element when trying to work with the kind of complex, theory-intensive riffs that Bird was known for. I mean, some of the cuts begin with a Parker riff, and are slowly overlayed with samples/scratches/instrumentals that are in completely different keys. On some tracks the result is complete cacophony. Ok, so perhaps it is acceptable to paste a bunch of samples together with complete disregard for song tempo/scale/structure for a Top 40 pop or Rap song, because the general public will buy whatever is marketed as 'popular'. But on a Charlie Parker remix album... ?!!

I appreciate what this album was attempting to do (bring some of Charlie Parker's better works into the 21st century), but I believe a project of this magnitude could have been carried out a bit more successfully.