Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It

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text excerpt

Bird [Charlie Parker] came into New York during the war with Jay McShann. He was working at Monroe's, and the sessions were between Monroe's and Milton's. […] They began to talk about Bird because he played like Pres [Lester Young] on alto. People became concerned about what he was doing. We thought that was something phenomenal because Lester Young was the style setter, the pace setter at the time.

We went to listen to Bird at Monroe's for no other reason except that he sounded like Pres. That is, until we found out that he had something of his own to offer. Well, by continually listening to him, we discovered that he not only sounded like Pres, but he also had something new. He used to play things we'd never heard before--rhythmically and harmonically. It aroused Dizzy's interest because he was working along the same lines, and [Thelonius] Monk was of the same opinion as Dizzy.

[…] I don't think he [Bird] was aware of the changes in jazz he was bringing about. Or at least he didn't talk about it much. Dizzy was more aware of what was happening and his own part in it.

excerpt from 'Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It' pp. 354 (196 words)

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