Charlie Parker
Tenor Sax Solo on
Milestones

About

Charlie Parker closes out the solos on tenor sax with a quarter of the form, following John Lewis at approximately 156 BPM. Set within a swinging rhythmic framework, the 32-bar AABA form and the key of B♭, the solo navigates the chord changes with purpose. Coming last in the solo order, Parker has the task of building on everything that came before while steering the performance back toward the closing head. Parker's rare appearance on tenor gives this recording a distinctive character, as his sound on the larger horn is darker and weightier than his alto voice. In the book Visions of Jazz: The First Century, Gary Giddins says, Milestones’ was a line with so many harmonic bottlenecks that Parker insisted he’d play just the bridge because the tune was too hard for a country boy like him.

Charlie Parker was 26 to 27 years old at the time.