Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project

I dig Charlie “Bird” Parker. I saw that Hal Wilner and Whoops I’m an Indian provided two remixes on this offering. I am fascinated by Wilner’s vision, imagination, understanding, and talent with diverse subjects and material. If you are not familiar with Hal Wilner, then you need to upgrade your existence by delving into his story, output, and visionary abilities. Hal was my entre’ to this disc.

As Hendrix famously asked, “Have you ever been experienced?” After listening to this disc, then you can answer, with a bit of certainty, “Well, I have.” Just like Charlie and Jimi, Hal does not live today and the artistic world is much less entertaining for his passing (N.B., CoVid March 2020 within days of John Prine’s passing). Through their contributions to this “remix” montage, they and their spirits will never die. Come on, join hands and watch the sunrise from the bottom of the sea.

This project is a challenge. I predict that you will find that multiple listenings, over multiple decades, will produce ever-evolving challenges and subsequent satisfactions. Do yourself a favor and secure a copy of this recording. I may not be the biggest fan of the hip-hop genre, but I am an admirer of art, artists, experimentation, and being challenged. Complacency sucks! And there is no complacency to be found in any of the multiple digital offerings contained on this item.

Mr. Parker still conjures up my interest and a sense of breaking bonds - not just musically but in a larger mental context. Next, the "contemporary" hip-hop connection is an on-going side interest of mine. I like the mix of inspirations. Finally, but not insignificantly I am always interested in a project if Hal Willner has a hand in it. This was easy to hook into. I've now listened to this collection a couple of times and I think I'll be able to grow into it. There are some very rich textures here. I like that. My biggest problem with the album is that I would like to hear a stronger integration of the Parker influence into the creations. There are usually some pretty small snippets of original recordings. On a few of the tunes the use of small segment of accompaniment or even a solo is very rarefied. I feel myself hungering for more of the original. I feel like the effort was real but that it comes up a little short of satisfying in most cases. Nonetheless I'm interested in working with this collection to help stretch my mind.

This is the best hip music you can listen to. My son-in-law and my 6 year old grandson now have a copy. From the first cut my grandson thought it was the best. He dropped Adele like a hot potato, but he wants to hear jazz every time I see him anyway.

I Love this disc. Since I adore all of Hal Wilners productions, I thought I'd take a chance on this one.

Was never so NOT dissapointed. Disc if ultra fantastic, and the delivery, was quick and conscice. I will order from them anytime I need something interestine.

This album is amazing. I've never heard anything like it before. It feels like a rollercoaster ride into the future. I didn't know enough about Charlie Parker before I heard it, but I now know that he was a true genius who left a deep impression on so many other geniuses who followed in his footsteps, a select few of whom make their visionary presence felt alongside his on this unprecedented recording.

From the album's completely appropriate first three words ("Now's the Time" - courtesy of Red Hawk) through the disintegration of it's final cosmic note (courtesy of El-P), Bird Up is so full of unexpected twists and turns that it feels more like a virtual reality adventure than any CD I've ever heard.

Some of my favorites are "Bird of Paradise (Gone)" - a mind blowing portrait of love by Serj Tankian of System of a Down; "Congo Blues (Silencer)" - a truly wild journey through the African jungle with Donk, Ravi Coltrane, Wild Children, Hubert Laws and Kodo; "Bebop (Live at the Rooftop)" and "Cheers (X-ecutioners Style) - courtesy of samurai master producer/MC The RZA and scratch kings the X-ecutioners, respectively - two of the most stirring and inspired juxtapositions of jazz and hip-hop I've ever heard; and "A Night in Tunisia (Downpour)" - another highly wild track courtesy of Donk, the Coconut Tree and Kodo.

Make no mistake. There is not a dull moment on this entire recording. Before this, I can recall five times that I've made that statement about one album's worth of material: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue; The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper; Dr. John - Gris Gris; The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique; and Nas - Illmatic. Ironically, Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project combines the finest elements of each of those genre stretching albums into one brilliant tribute to one of the most fearless revolutionaries of the 20th century. New ground has been broken. The 21st century has officially begun. Now is indeed the time.

I am very disappointed at the pervasive negativity here. It's a real shame there are so many narrow-minded snobs (namely one "Jay from Chicago") who are so foolishly set in their ways, that they think anything new, modern, or part of a "younger generation" is automatically inferior to the one or two styles of music they so foolishly limit themselves to. Styles like hip hop and electronica evolved from jazz, and only the most ignorant of "music fans" would claim there's no talent or creativity within these styles.

Anyone who is willing to stop shouting "Blasphemy!" long enough to actually LISTEN to the damn thing should be able to see that this is a reverent, and very well-made tribute. With artists like Dan the Automator, Serj Tankian, El-P, RZA, and Hubert Laws, there's a wide variety of interesting sounds here. Hal Willner's Whoops I'm an Indian (cool name, isn't it?) make some particularly noteworthy contributions as well.

So, all of you who possess an open mind, and aren't hopelessly lost in the past, I urge you to give this a chance. Hell, I bet even Charlie himself would approve of this work, despite what the old-timers may want to believe. After all, the true essence of jazz was all about looking to the future, not the past.

The disc, as you are probably aware by now, is a nice little mash up of classic Bird material with touches of breakbeat, downtempo, rap, and even a little dub.

First of all, this CD won't change your life. It's not anything that we haven't heard before. It is, however, a fun little melange to enjoy on a sunny summer afternoon. It's a happy disc, and Bird's vigor and joy are not lost in the reworkings. In that sense, the disc is a success on the whole. It's also a nice contrast of styles from RZA, Dan the Automator, El-P, Ndegeocello, etc.

The only real weakness to my ears is track 4. Tankian's yelling just doesn't work with jazz and is actually painful.

To those reviewers who get all in a twist about this being a blasphemous mutilation of Bird, get over yourself. Deconstrucion and reworking and chopping of classic music into a modern style is a vital artistic endeavor. I think this process is one of the best ways to reinvigorate interest in the originals for a new generation of listeners. "Higher than though" traditionalists guarding the original art from being re-examined is a sad state of affairs for any art form. Jazz is a living, breathing, changing thing, and to want to restrict it in an effort to "protect" the original manifestation of that movement is in fact stiffling to Jazz's natural evolution. Frankly, I bet Bird would love to hear this disc, if only to hear how a new generation play with his music.

This disc really didn't do too much for me. Keep in mind that doesn't mean that you shouldn't buy this because this is very much going to be an individual preference type thing. It just wasn't my cup of tea, that's all. So my rating is solely based on my personal experience and should not deter those who feel they would be interested in this.

There have been some flames thrown between reviewers on this album so let me just say this: I think it is great that these guys got together and decided to do a tribute to Charlie Parker. I would also hope that people would purchase Bird's original recordings as well so they can get an idea of what his music was really like and hopefully get an idea of how much of a true genius the man was. There have been complaints of snobbery by other reviewers and an unwillingness of older generations to accept the music of younger generations. I will say this: I am a musician and in my mid twenties and I will freely admit that when it comes to snobbery in music my generation and the ones younger than me tend to be the snobs most of the time. There are so many younger people nowadays who have no knowledge (and don't care to learn about) the musicains that came before them. That truly is a shame because we must always keep in mind that if it wasn't for those who came before us, we wouldn't be here. And I do agree with the statement that music today is way too much about image and not about making good music. I also agree with the statement that house and hip hop have their roots in jazz. Now here's another question for you: Before you go ripping on older people for not realizing that house and hip hop came out of jazz, how many younger people today know that those musical forms have their roots in jazz and could name any of those great jazz musicians that came first and paved the way for the house/hip hop guys out there today?

Finally, there's been the question of whether or not Bird would have liked this recording. Would Bird have approved of this recording? Who can say? He's not here to give his opinion and I'm not going to go putting words into the man's mouth.

I was expecting a bit more when I purchased this CD being a Bird fan I thought their was something missing, one or two at the most reasonable tracks, I wondered why it was cheap cheap.