[Note: If you're ordering from outside of the US, please read the note at the bottom of this page. Thanks!]
BirdHouse
Bill Lee-Piano Will Lee-Bass Billy Hart-Drums Michael Brecker-saxophone Randy Brecker-trumpet Warren Chiasson-vibes Bob [+][Note: If you're ordering from outside of the US, please read the note at the bottom of this page. Thanks!]
BirdHouse
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 Produced by Will Lee
About BirdHouse This jubilant celebration of Charlie Parker's music is not only a paean to the legendary alto saxophonist and bebop pioneer who died on March 12, 1955 at the age of 34, it is also a family affair that unites father and son in their first-ever recording project together.
Dr. William F. Lee III (or Bill to his friends) is a jazz educator of much renown who co-founded the International Association for Jazz Education and served as one of its past presidents and executive director. An academic innovator, he held positions of professor, dean and vice president at St. Mary's University, the University of Texas at Austin, Sam Houston State University, The University of Miami and the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is also an acclaimed author, having penned stellar biographies on such jazz greats as Stan Kenton, Bill Evans and Maynard Ferguson. What is not so well known about Dr. Lee is that he actually gigged with Charlie Parker back in 1950 when he was a 21-year-old aspiring pianist, fresh from North Texas State University and eager to get his feet wet on the New York jazz scene. And he couldn't have fallen into a more eye-opening situation than to be sharing the bandstand with the fabled Bird.
"I was lucky to be around when all that was happening," says the 72-year-old Dr. Lee in retrospect. "It was a really magical time."
Bill was a big Bud Powell fan back then, which put him in good stead for his fateful encounter with Bird that summer of '50. As he recalls, "I met Charlie Parker at Café Society, which was at 2 Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village. I introduced myself during intermission and later he called me up to play. We ended up gigging together there briefly. For me, it was great introduction to the whole scene."
Dr. Lee was living in the basement of the William Henry Hotel on 126th Street at the time he encountered Bird. "In those days Harlem was cool but the Village was not," he says. "Most peo
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