Charlie Parker and Thematic Improvisation

by Henry Martin

Martin provides a new overall assessment of the importance of Charlie Parker through an analysis of his improvisations in a variety of genres. Earlier studies of Parker argue that his style is based on an extensive network of melodic formulas that are combined to create solos. Because the same formulas appear throughout his improvisations regardless of the theme, these studies concluded that the solos do not usually relate to the original melodies. "Charlie Parker and Thematic Improvisation" provides a much-needed reassessment by showing that Parker's solos are often related to the original themes in unexpected and sometimes ingenious ways. The conclusion sums up features of Parker's style and discusses his contribution in the context of Western music history. Numerous transcriptions are provided. This groundbreaking technical study will be of interest to musicologists and serious students of jazz.

170 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Henry Martin is an award-winning Irish writer and art scholar. His plays have featured at Project Arts Centre, Roundhouse, Underbelly, Arcola, Theatre503, and Belltable; his fiction and poetry is published in Ireland, Mexico, USA and UK; and he has written about art and books for Soho House and Phaidon Press. He is narrator of the documentary 'Agnes Martin Before The Grid' (2016), his book 'Yappo' is published by Company Cod (2017), and his play 'The Cost of Your Forgetting' is published in 'Tiny Plays For Ireland', New Island Books, 2013.