The Pop Story

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie - Bird & Diz (1952)

Dizzy Gillespie via last.fm

The pastiche Picasso on the cover of Bird & Diz suggests that modern jazz of this era was attempting a kind of sonic Cubism. And this is one of the problems, as a jazz naif, that I have with this music. Conceptually it’s thrilling: Parker and Gillespie, like the modernist painters that preceded them, are getting to the point here from every conceivable angle at once. The flurry of notes seems to be an attempt to make music 3D. As Peter Conrad points out in his history of modernism, Modern Times, Modern Places, “The nineteenth century’s faith in progress was replaced by [jazz in] the twentieth century’s awareness of simultaneity”.

All very compelling daddio! But do I actually want to listen to this album more than once? Right now I’m not sure. At the very least, it sounds amazing. A lot of it’s to do with the fantastic old mics they were using, the room they were in - but mostly, it’s obvious these guys (including Mr Monk on piano) were just incredible at what they did. Again, very thrilling for the brain, possibly even for the soul… just not sure my heart’s in it.

Bird & Diz on Spotify