Charlie Parker & Red Rodney - Back Home Blues, August 8th, 1951 скачать в хорошем качестве

Charlie Parker & Red Rodney - Back Home Blues, August 8th, 1951

On Wednesday, August 8th, 1951, Charlie Parker (Bird) entered RCA Victor studios in New York City, accompanied by Red Rodney, trumpet, John Lewis, piano, Ray Brown, bass, and Kenny Clarke, drums. This assemblage bore some resemblance to Bird’s working quintet because it included Red Rodney, who had replaced Kenny Dorham at the end of 1949. Producer Norman Granz made a conscious effort, it would seem, not to record Bird’s working quintet, despite the artistic success of the Dial and Savoy recordings, so this date is the only studio recording with Bird and Red Rodney together. Despite Bird’s best efforts, Rodney became a heroin addict during his years with the quintet. There’s a bogus scene in Clint Eastwood’s Bird, where Bird slams Rodney against a wall to make his feelings known, a melodramatic subversion of reality that typifies this irresponsible film. There was a more telling and historically accurate scene he might have included instead, especially given that Rodney was a consultant on the film. Picture this: while going cold turkey for the first time, Rodney arrives at Bird’s door suffering from severe abdominal pain. Having kicked many times himself, Bird knows this is atypical and gives Rodney an injection from his own supply. When withdrawal symptoms abate but not the abdominal pain, Bird rushes Rodney to the hospital, where he receives a lifesaving appendectomy. This actually happened, and had he included it Eastwood and audience would have had to sort through the moral ambiguities of such a scene, perhaps learning something in the process. Instead, due to his own artistic shortcomings, Eastwood relied on simplistic, and I think it’s quite fair to say racist, cinematic tropes and clichés. Although he made a comeback of sorts in the 1970s, and lived into the 90s, Rodney’s career in the 50s was hobbled by intervals of prison time. It’s a shame, because he showed real promise. It’s easy to see what Bird found appealing. Rodney had a rich, nuanced sound, solid time, and an innate lyricism. He was in his early twenties when Bird approached him, and considered himself unworthy of the job. When he argued that others were more deserving, Bird replied, “Hey, let me be the judge of that. I want you. I think that you’re the player that I want in my band.” (This parallels his relationship with Miles.) Nevertheless, Rodney confides, “I was really frightened. I didn’t think I belonged.”