Segment is a bebop composition by Charlie Parker, recorded on December 24, 1949, during a prolific session for Mercury Records that also produced Passport, Diverse, and Visa. The tune was captured at Carnegie Hall Studios in New York with a group featuring Parker on alto saxophone, Red Rodney on trumpet, Al Haig on piano, Tommy Potter on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Segment is based on the chord changes of I Got Rhythm, placing it within the large family of rhythm changes contrafacts that form a cornerstone of the bebop repertoire. Parker composed numerous rhythm changes vehicles throughout his career, and Segment belongs to the subset of these tunes that feature intricate, winding melodic lines full of chromatic embellishments and rhythmic displacement. The melody's angular phrases and rapid-fire bebop phrasing make it a challenging head to execute cleanly, particularly at brisk tempos. While Segment is less frequently performed than some of Parker's other rhythm changes pieces like Anthropology or Moose the Mooche, it remains a valued part of his compositional output and appears in collections of Parker's original compositions. The tune demonstrates Parker's seemingly inexhaustible ability to generate fresh melodic ideas over familiar harmonic territory. The AllSolos database features a 2021 Charlie Parker Tribute recording by the Chad LB Quartet, with solos from Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on tenor saxophone, Steven Feifke on piano, and Bryan Carter on drums.
