Charlie Parker: The Levin Wilson Controversy Part 4 

There's a quote somewhere from Parker when he says he practiced 11 hours a day (or something like that) so he wouldn't have to think about what he was doing when he got on a bandstand. At some point if you want to create something interesting on the fly you have to let the subconcious take over but you have to put in the hard yards to enable that to happen .

La Valse is truly crazy stuff.

I do state in this series that Parker and the Bop players didn't think in terms of bebop scales. I'm just trying to give an explanation for Parker's 1949 statements in relation to his jazz style - and how it has been interpreted into modern thinking ie Bebop Scales. Modern Scholarship does not account for Parker's shifting patterns across bar lines that alter the harmonic context of these added notes. You state that Bebop scales are rhythmic. That is true, but to Parker they also have a harmonic and melodic element. In fact you can hear the melodic element in Bebop scales from Paul McCartney's song Yesterday. In bar 4 the melody rises over a C Chord (I'm transposing for simplicity) in eighth notes C,D,E,F,G,G# - even though that G# is off the beat, taking it out really destroys the melodic line.

Dm7 is a sub dominant function chord but it is built on the super tonic as you said. Chord Function is not dependent on the scale degree of the chord. A chord called G7 on the first bar of a 12 bar blues has tonic function - not dominant. I know it sounds confusing but it all makes sense when you understand Berklee Harmony. The motives I talk about are in Thomas Owens PHD dissertation in two volumes on my facebook page (motives in vol 2). Look at the post and comments from June 19 2017. facebook.com/BebopReview/

Bebop review Hello,and thank you for getting back to me,,,I Don,t know much about Berkeley Harmony (But I think it relates in part to seeing a chord and playing a mode scale that corresponds,,,though I am sure it is surely not as simple and naive as that,,,,so I shall look into it,,I am very intrigued as to this angle on functionality,and I would really like to get it clear in my mind.Looking up Berkeley Harmony would set me straight upon this?,,I think I know what you mean,,,if this supertonic chord has subdominant functionality from the point of view of cadence and progression,,but the immediate question I ask myself is how this choice does not then become arbitrary but maybe it is!,,& therefor even if it is how does one distinguish a tonic 7th from a dominant 7th chord in functionality?.,,is it simply deduced from contextual considerations?. If Berkley Harmony has the answers then I shall look toward that as soon as I can possibly manage it.Are they a set of books that are freely or otherwise available to consult?. I am still revising Schoenberg books!). For the motifs I am not on Facebook ,nor have a phone to sign up,so I shall to pass for the moment unless you have any additional links!..thank you very much,,I shall return to all of this later on when I have my present undertakings more in hand!. Add.!(23h00 !..just thinking what you said,,,because suddenly I thought,,maybe you meant it was dm7 as subdominant and so it was relating back to some form of A chord as tonic,but instead of Dmaj7 it was a brief interchange chord still in scale position 4,,but you confirmed the dm7 as supertonic so it is relating to C as tonic but as a stand for the Fmaj7 as normal sub Dom chord? So is this is like the relative minor to that as if the Fmaj sub Dom is a brief modal interchange to Fmaj as key governing the overall functional structure of the subdominant at that moment in time,,(C chord played would be C7 if substituted at the same point?)Writing that I realise that you could still have the Dm7 to Fmaj7 relationship within C major no need for any interchange,but that Dm7 is naturally a Dorian minor whereas the other from Fmajor is Aeolian with the Bflat..it’s seems like an oscillation or superposition of the two too me,,so I,ll have so look more deeply into this as I am a bit confused,,,actually Schoenberg spoke a bit like too in his structural functions of harmony book and I was a bit lost there too,but maybe it is the same thinking.Soon revising it all (as Schoenberg is a very informative not to mention nice and extremely interesting read!)then I can look deeper at the jazz notion,but I think there is quite some common ground from what I have read so far. It seems to me a bit like Debussy and non functional harmony,in some aspects as far as I can understand,in that a chord might not be logically functional re old common practice but it is used in functional positions and with functional timing,,(ie What you said about G7 in a tonic position,not sure Debussy did exactly that but that’s what I am getting from that influence from Wagner through to Debussy and onwards as discussed by Schoenberg on 7th chord inversions and usages.),,.but I suppose Be Bop has its own thing! Thank you anyway!,I,ll definitely be checking back in here later on. pS.i just found the dissertations on archive .org so thanks also very much for those titles!.One day hopefully the fog will clear!,,

Hi James, what did Bird hear?

If you'd be willing to speak with me I'm currently in college working on a thesis about Bird. I feel like what he meant here may be the last piece in putting it all together. I'm genuinely very curious about your insight but of course, respect your privacy. Feel free to contact me

'In 1949, Michael Levin and John S. Wilson conducted an extensive interview with Charlie Parker for Downbeat that summed up his life and his career up to that point along with his musical hopes for the future. The interview, which contains some of the innovative jazz artist’s most famous quotes, was also a bit controversial because he said that bebop had little connection with jazz, and he criticized Dizzy Gillespie’s commercial tendencies.' The above quote was made by Scott Yanow of 'Down Beat' and 'Jazz on the tube' and comes from his review of this video series. However, my meaning is the one that has been discussed in academic circles for years. The Controversy is what did Parker actually mean by his break-through statement ' I could hear it but I couldn't play it'. This series goes into that statement in depth and list the many misquotes and problems associated with trying to understand Parker's meaning. After stating these problems, I then offer my own theory on what Parker meant and so resolving the 'controversy' in my own mind at least.🎷

I've already answered this on your comment on HTPB 5 the motive list is at the beginning of volume 2

@@bebopreview3187 Andy, i didnt see it..thank you..i found the owen dissertation ii as pdf..its a bit confusing for me..over wich chord they played..some over gm7/c7, some over major..but anyway..thank you

No you won't

????! Yes you will! Barry Harris has spent his life on it. His contribution helps to understand why music not just bebop works the way he explains it.

How is he greedy and egotistical?

@@tonythecreator Bird is Great Musician. He was. Check his tenor solo with Miles on Little Willy Leaps in.👍🏽👋👋👋