Play in the Style of Charlie Parker

Play in the Style of Charlie Parker has been carefully designed and scored to be a somewhat authentic but gentle introduction to the wonderful world of Be Bop music. While the pieces in this book have been composed to reflect the spirit, style, and techniques of Be Bop music, in particular, that of the great jazz saxophone artist, Charlie Parker. Parker and his fellow Be Bop musicians revolutionized jazz music harmony and improvisation. As was said of the great J.S Bach, “nothing after Bach was the same”, so it could be said of Charlie Parker and the Be Bop movement. Jazz music was transformed and changed forever and almost every jazz improviser from the 1950s until today has been influenced, and or, inspired by this music.

In respect to the writing of the compositions in this book, front and centre was the necessity for all of the music and solos in this book to be playable by a good level student player. Be Bop music tends to be harmonically complex and technically demanding, so to write material that was above the level of most intermediate to advanced-level student players would have served no useful purpose. The Charlie Parker Omni-Book ,(Hal Leonard publishing) is an excellent and authentic resource for those that desire to play Parker’s actual solos, a book I highly recommend to all serious-minded jazz saxophone and clarinet players. This book, however was designed to be more accessible to a wider range of players without sacrificing the authenticity and harmonic language of Be Bop music.

The Pieces:

The nine pieces composed for this book are all inspired or based on the harmonic structures of the classic Be Bop tunes without using the original melodies for these as such It is hoped that the student player will be able to gain an insight and appreciation for the style, spirit and complex beauty that this remarkable jazz music offers to us all.

I sincerely hope that this book will lead you to research and listen to the recordings of Charlie Parker and the creators and innovators of Be Bop music. Their achievements and genius have left a lasting and powerful musical legacy for us all to enjoy.