Bird with Strings featuring Andrew Speight at Stanford Jazz Festival

Inside Jazz pre-concert talk: Remembering Bird
Saturday, July 16, 7 p.m.
Featuring: Sonny Buxton (KCSM Jazz 91.1)

Recorded from 1949 through 1952 and produced by Norman Granz, the astonishingly beautiful Charlie Parker with Strings releases were a departure from his usual bebop quintet setting. But he had good reason for choosing the format: Not only were these sides his biggest sellers, they set the mold for a new genre of “jazz with strings” records, including those by Nat “King” Cole, Clifford Brown, and Stan Getz. Parker didn’t so much reign in his improvisatory flights of fancy on these recordings as focus on the beauty of the melodies; his canny choice of contemporary pop hits such as “April in Paris,” “Laura,” and “Just Friends” ensured fertile ground for melodic expression as well as a connection to a wider audience. SJW’s Andrew Speight takes on the alto sax role with live strings playing the original arrangements from the sessions, mixed with some classic Parker originals.. The All Music Guide says of the original recordings that they’re “the perfect antidote to a surfeit of jazz records featuring undisciplined blowing.”...

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Inside Jazz pre-concert talk: Remembering Bird
Saturday, July 16, 7 p.m.
Featuring: Sonny Buxton (KCSM Jazz 91.1)

Recorded from 1949 through 1952 and produced by Norman Granz, the astonishingly beautiful Charlie Parker with Strings releases were a departure from his usual bebop quintet setting. But he had good reason for choosing the format: Not only were these sides his biggest sellers, they set the mold for a new genre of “jazz with strings” records, including those by Nat “King” Cole, Clifford Brown, and Stan Getz. Parker didn’t so much reign in his improvisatory flights of fancy on these recordings as focus on the beauty of the melodies; his canny choice of contemporary pop hits such as “April in Paris,” “Laura,” and “Just Friends” ensured fertile ground for melodic expression as well as a connection to a wider audience. SJW’s Andrew Speight takes on the alto sax role with live strings playing the original arrangements from the sessions, mixed with some classic Parker originals.. The All Music Guide says of the original recordings that they’re “the perfect antidote to a surfeit of jazz records featuring undisciplined blowing.”

For more information on this event or to purchase tickets please visit http://www.stanfordjazz.org or call (650) 725-ARTS [2787]

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