01.Confirmation 4:3002.Now's the Time 4:42
03.Yardbird Suite 4:11
04Ornithology 3:33
05.My Little Suede Shoes 5:57
06Cheryl 2:54
07.Au Privave 3:47
08.Lover Man 6:27
09.Donna Lee 4:30
10.Hot House 3:57
11.Quasimodo (Tribute) 4:16
12.Thriving on a Riff 4:40.
Bill Lee-Piano
Will Lee-Bass
Billy Hart-Drums
Michael Brecker-saxophone
Randy Brecker-trumpet
Warren Chiasson-vibes
Bob Dorough-vocals
Lew Soloff-trumpet
John Tropea-guitar.
Will Lee & Bill Lee - BirdHouse (2002)
ReplyDeleteSmoking' jazz played by modern players in traditional style. Bill Lee: Piano, Will Lee: Bass, Billy Hart: Drums, Michael Brecker: saxophone, Randy Brecker: trumpet.
John Fordham
Former Letterman Show house-bassist Will Lee gets the credit for this sparky tribute to Charlie Parker - and it's certainly his connections in the music business that allowed him to attract both Brecker brothers, Carla Bley trumpeter Lew Soloff and others as guests on this session. But maybe the real star is Will's pianist father Bill, 72 at the time of this five-year-old recording, one of American jazz education's great movers and shakers, and driven to recapture the feeling of jamming with Charlie Parker over half a century ago. Bill Lee plays piano on all these classic Parker tracks, and if his occasionally wayward timing hints at all the years he's spent in the classroom rather than on the bandstand, he's startlingly full of ideas within a Bud Powell frame, and prods at his fellow players with an expressive relish. Of course it's all classic bebop, played generally in a classic bebop manner. But with the wonderful Billy Hart on drums, Randy Brecker interpreting the tunes in a muted Milesian way and the firebrand Lew Soloff operating somewhere between Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, the music exudes good humour and pleasure in such enduringly challenging materials.
Michael Brecker plays tenor on only two tracks, but his volcanic improvisation on the opening Confirmation is almost worth the set on its own. There's a delicious duet between Soloff and Lee on Lover Man, and some eccentrically hip bop-scat from veteran singer Bob Dorough too.
BirdHouse
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