Bohuslän Big Band - Chasin' the Bird (2021)

A Tribute to one of the most influential musicians of all time, Charlie Parker, a genius in the true sense of the term. He was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, U.S. The alto saxophone was his main instrument although there are some beautiful recordings of him playing the tenor as well. His idiom was in jazz where he became the most important architect of modern jazz, often called “bebop”. When Parker was asked to describe his style he said, “It’s just music. It’s trying to play clean and looking for the pretty notes.” Early on Parker was given the nickname “Yardbird” which later was converted to, regarding his musical expression, the very suitable “Bird”. It’s astounding to think of how much Parker was able to achieve in his dramatic, chaotic and all to short life. In a way, you might say that he lived with the same blazing speed as he expressed himself on his saxophone. Still today, musicians all around the world are trying to catch up with the Bird. Charlie Parker died in 1955 at the age of 34.

In 2020 Charlie Parker would have been 100 years old. As a tribute to Parker, we created a new production with big band interpretations of his music which went out on tour during the year. Three arrangements from Bohuslän Big Band members Christer Olofsson, Samuel Olsson and Niclas Rydh were written for the 100 year anniversary. The arrangements by Klas Lindquist (who started off his professional career as member of the Bohuslän Big Band’s reed section) and the Danish trombone player and arranger Peter Jensen was made in 2010 for a Bohuslän Big Band tour, “Bird’s bebop”. In 1984, while still a student at the University of Minnesota, Maria Schneider wrote a colorful arrangement of “Hot House” and we are very pleased to be the first band to record it. The arranger of “Sippin’ at Bells”, tenor saxophone player Erik Norström (1935–2019), is a very important person in the history of the Bohuslän Big Band. Not unlike both Parker and Schneider, Norström was well developed as a musician at an early age and played professionally from the age of 16.

This album was recorded in a classic way, with the whole band in the same room at the same time. We felt this way would be the most suitable for the music and most fun for us musicians, if also very demanding since we lose the possibility of repairing mistakes. Recording engineer and simultaneously playing the trombone, was the multi-talented Christer Olofsson. We sincerely hope you’ll like our recording as much as we are proud of it!