Film Essays and Reviews

Jazz firmament

As a tandem Charlie Parker (sax) and Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet) are atop the jazz firmament. Or perhaps they share it with John Coltrane (sax) and Miles Davis (trumpet). Either way, they are titans in their world. They set standards difficult to reach and duplicate. This fine, influential film looks at the life and career of Charlie Parker (1920-55).

Bird

Immortal influence

Nickname

Charlie was called Bird not because he resembled one unless it was maybe the squat, rotund dodo, flightless with no wings. Some say the sweet sounds of his alto sax matched those of a warbling bird. Still others claimed he was named after his favorite dish, fried chicken. He referred to chickens as yardbirds, a name later taken up by a young English blues band in the Sixties featuring — at various times — Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on guitar. The English, as is well known, had no proper blues of their own. In this sense they are honorary Americans, in love with a sound deep enough to touch the soul. American jazzmen and bluesmen were their heroes. The Rolling Stones named themselves after a Muddy Waters song and that band has done its very best to sound as close to Robert Johnson as one can get, the song “No Expectations” a tribute to the great bluesman. If you didn’t know any better you’d think Johnson had written it, not Jagger and Richards.

Bebop

Charlie Parker’s contribution to jazz was a new style, an uptempo sound called bebop. He and Thelonius Monk on piano were pioneers of it. Bebop was a bridge between swing and modern cool. It had complex chord progressions and numerous changes of key. Virtuosity and improvisation were part of its appeal. Though light and buoyant on the surface, it had intellectual depth, a style with a harmonic structure that only the finest musicians could play. Known as musicians’ music, it demanded close attention to appreciate its complexity. It left fellow sax players in awe as they tried to keep up with the Bird sound.

Originality and intellectuality

Charlie’s strength was his originality, his constant willingness to explore. He changed what could be done with the saxophone by reimagining its potential. It took a special melodic mind to do this. He often said he heard the music in his head before he ever heard it with his ears. Hence the intellectuality referred to earlier.

If jazz is the thinking person’s music, it explains why it’s more closely linked to writers and literature than any other music genre, as both jazzmen and writers tend toward the cool, not the square. They prefer to actively think rather than passively accept. They wander free from the crowd, happy to be on their own, leaving anthem rock to the chanting masses.

Other important bebop artists were Louis Armstrong, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell, Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey, as well as those previously mentioned, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie.

Personality

One reading of Charlie’s personality it that he was hard-edged and difficult. This might have been because he was professionally exacting and demanding of himself and others. The portrait of him in this fine film directed by Clint Eastwood is different. He is shown to be gentle, warm and kind. His relations with Chan Berg, his common-law-wife, are mainly tender and affectionate. He doesn’t raise his voice or throw his weight around. He gives her space and respect, allowing her input in many areas of their lives. We never see him hit her, abuse her. He wanted and courted her love.

Addiction

His biggest problem was addiction, a habit formed early on as a teenager. And it was always there, a demon he couldn’t shake, even though he tried. Chan always claimed his problems were physical, not psychological. The psychological effects of his behavior were due to his physical condition, although one can argue there’s no separation, as each affects the other. He feels awful physically because he’s depressed and gets depressed because he feels awful physically. An endless wheel of suffering. The Buddhists call it samsara.

He needed to cleanse his body but it was something he could never completely do, his dependencies too great to overcome. When he died at the age of 34 the coroner said he had the body of a 65-year-old (that’s 65 years lived in half the time).

Heroin

Heroin is derived from the seeds of the opium poppy. It affects all major organs in the body but especially the brain. It causes impairment in areas of the brain that are responsible for judgement and decision making, which is why its use can lead to abuse of other drugs such as cocaine and alcohol. Heroin addicts are seldom addicts of heroin exclusively, whereas alcoholics, for instance, do not become heroin addicts just because they cannot control their alcohol intake.

That’s the threat and danger of heroin use. Once addicted to it, it can destroy everything. It can be injected, snorted or smoked. All three methods pass the blood-brain barrier. The chemical reaction that goes on converts heroin to morphine upon entering the brain and binds opioid receptors throughout the central nervous system and the body — receptors that govern pain perception and reward, decreasing pain and increasing pleasure.

Given this, it’s not hard to understand why the drug was so prevalent in a music subculture such as jazz. Long nights performing, drinking and smoking, poor sleep and lousy diets, the pressures to perform to earn scant money. A treadmill many artists were on. It was the drug that kept them going. The symptoms were many: severe itchiness, nausea, heavy limbs, drowsiness, clouded thinking, watery eyes, runny nose, euphoric rush. All junkies are a jumpy mess.

Addictive personality?

Is there an addictive personality? Answer unknown. But it seems some may be more prone and vulnerable than others depending on the dodgy dynamics of genetics, environmental stress and personality traits. Introverts seem at higher risk. Neurotics as well, but that gets into the tricky terrain of trying to understand what causes certain neuroses. But as a general rule persons who tend toward negative feelings such as fear, depression and anger are more likely to feel overwhelmed by stressful situations. Drugs can be attractive as an outlet for them, but in essence they’re a nullity, creators of a void. Positive or optimistic people generally don’t turn to drugs. Like sunflowers, they turn their sunny dispositions toward the sun.

Charlie’s lone suicide attempt, intentional or not, occurred after the death of his three-year old daughter from pneumonia. It’s shown in the film when he swallows a bottle of iodine in a mad attempt to kill the pain of ulcers that chronically afflict him, judgement impaired in a negative spiral that has little or no upside.

Bird’s background

Born in 1920, he grew up poor in Kansas City, Kansas. But at age 11 he somehow procured his first saxophone and by 14 was playing in the high school band. However, he never finished high school, quitting at age 15 in 1935 to join the local musicians’ union with an aim toward turning pro full time.

In 1936 he was playing in local jazz bands in clubs around Kansas City. One scene early on in the film shows him more or less auditioning on stage with the touring Count Basie Orchestra. During one improvisation he loses track of the chord changes, whereupon the drummer unloosens a cymbal from his drum kit and sails it like a frisbee or flying saucer at Charlie’s feet, an act of mortification for any jazz musician to suffer in public. Thereafter Charlie would steadfastly keep track of all chord changes while playing.

That experience taught him to practice longer and concentrate harder. By 1939 he was in New York City washing dishes and playing wherever he could find rare gigs. At one of these he was befriended by pianist Art Tatum who helped spread the word regarding Charlie’s prowess on the horn. Bandleader Earl Hines was one of the first musicians in New York to hire him to play.

First recordings and influence

A year later he was introduced to Dizzy Gillespie, a breakthrough that led to a partnership now legendary in jazz history. That year at age 20 Charlie made his first professional recordings. But the great recordings that made his name would not begin until the mid-‘40s, after which a stream of hit recordings was released year after year from 1944 onwards. It was only a 10-year period, a decade from 1944 to 1954, but it was enough to make him immortal. The awards and tributes have continued long after his death in 1955.

The public adored him, bought his records. But the greatest tributes came from fellow musicians who esteemed his talent and influence. And that remains true today in musical dedications from Joe Pass to Charles Mingus, from Wayne Shorter’s Weather Report to Donald Fagen’s Steely Dan. Charlie Watts, the lone jazzman among the blues enthusiasts in the Rolling Stones, said Bird meant more to him than any other musician. Charlie Parker is all over the map of modern jazz and fusion, his mark indelible. And he’s also on postage stamps and in the Library of Congress, a man who has literally made his mark on the world (on envelopes and elsewhere).

Bird, the film

Although the film was made in 1988 you’d never know it by seeing its beautiful award-winning cinematography. Many of the scenes are filmed at night in smoky jazz joints and on darkened streets lit by blinking neon. The mood is somber when the bebop music is not playing. Life is a struggle and the tone of the film reflects it.

Forest Whitaker is superb as Bird, as is Diane Venora as Chan Berg, Charlie’s dedicated common-law wife, half Jewish and completely white, the mother of two of Charlie’s children. New York City was not segregated of course. Even so, interracial marriages were rare and turned heads. But neither Bird nor Chan cared. They had more important things to worry about like feeding the kids and keeping Charlie clean.

The film is also a labor of love for Eastwood, a jazz aficionado. It was not made principally to make money but to honor the legacy of Charlie Parker. In one of the great ironies among so many in life, jazz is a neglected and under-appreciated art form in the U.S. Go figure, right? Europeans and Japanese love jazz more than Americans do.

Jazz and the Japanese

Jazz has a measly 1.1% market share in the U.S. In Japan it’s 11% and 48% of Japanese say they are “jazz fans.” I know this from personal experience. I used to live in that country. In Tokyo and elsewhere there are jazz cafés. You go in, order a coffee, write your name on a list, sit down, relax, wait for your name to be called, then tell “the master” what you’d like to hear, buy another coffee, sit back and listen as large top-of-the-line Bose speakers make it seem like the music is being played live there on the spot.

Personal anecdote

Customer traffic was thin that day in Tokyo when I entered the café. It was just after lunch on a weekday. My name was third on the list.

Jazz conversation

He called my name.

Master: What would you like to hear?” (spoken in perfect, if accented, English)

Me: Some Pat Metheny if you’ve got any of his stuff.

Master: I’ve got it all. Customers love him.

Me: I do too. In that case, I’d love to hear a track off As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls.

Master: Which one?

Me: I’m not sure. I love the whole album.

Master: Then let’s do that.

Me: Do what?

Master: Play the whole thing. Nobody will mind. They’ll be happy.

And so he did. I could hardly believe it.

If the Emperor and Tojo had loved jazz they never would have bombed Pearl Harbor, avoiding so much heartache, misery and turmoil. But Pat Metheny was born too late to save Japan from itself.

I blew off an appointment that day. Called ahead and made an excuse. Listening to Pat was more important. When the final track ended, a beautiful, transcendent one featuring the heavenly vocals of Brazilian Naná Vasconcelos, I thanked the master. I was on Cloud 9, one short of the 10 called Heaven.

Me: You are a gentleman, sir, and all true gentlemen have good taste and love beauty.

Master: Pat Metheny is wonderful.

Me: So are you, and so is your café.

Japanese distribution of Pat Metheny music among jazz lovers in Japan. They’ve shortened the title in Japanese to Wichita Falls.

I returned two or three years later to see if the café was still there. It was, and so was the master. But he didn’t remember me until I uttered the long password, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. Then a dim glow slowly came into his eyes.

Master: Ah, yes. We played the whole thing that afternoon. I remember now. Someone complained afterwards. They said it was too long.

Me: Really? What did you say?

Master: I told them to go to McDonald’s or Starbucks. By the way, what does it mean?

Me: What does what mean?

Master: Pat’s Wichita album name.

Me: Oh, it’s just a geographical play on words. A pun. It doesn’t mean anything. Not really.

Master: He could have shortened it.

Me: True. But I like it anyway. To my ears it’s comical. Maybe he’s laughing at the place where he’s from.

Master: Must be.

Originally released in 1988. This DVD released on June, 1, 2010. Running time: 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Bird (Forest Whitaker) lovingly pelted with flowers on stage.