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Charlie Parker opens the solo section on alto sax, stretching out for three choruses at approximately 226 BPM. Set within a swinging rhythmic framework, the 12-bar Blues form and the key of B♭, the solo navigates the chord changes with purpose. As the first voice heard after the head, Parker sets the improvisational tone before passing to Miles Davis. Parker's three-chorus opening is a sustained display of blues-inflected bebop at its most inventive, and the subsequent solos trace a progression through the different textures available within the quintet format. The up-tempo pulse drives the improvisation forward with momentum.
Charlie Parker was 26 to 27 years old at the time.
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