Questioning Crouch on Bird's Mouthpiece

In his very nice new book on Charlie Parker's early years in Kansas City, Stanley Crouch briefly discusses Bird's novel approach to tone production on the alto saxophone and the mouthpiece and reed setup he used to achieve it. Crouch writes: 

"From the start, one of Charlie's goals had been to refine his tone, to get rid of that goddamn vibrato and create a sound that was built for speed. To further his cause, he took a Brilhart mouthpiece---an uncommon brand at the time---and experimented with its shape, filing it down in an effort to control the sound even further. In doing so, he was ignoring the advice of older musicians, who warned him about the possibility of brass poisoning. Players such as Tab Smith, an alto player with Lucky Millinder and Basie, had gotten infections when the sharp edge of an altered metal mouthpiece cut into their lips as the played. As was his way, Parker listened, said nothing, and then went on with what he was doing. Parker became such a proficient reworker of mouthpieces that he was soon filing away on those of his fellow band members and of any other saxophone players who trusted his skill."

While this is the first I have heard of Bird working on mouthpieces, it certainly is not unthinkable that he did. From Earl Bostic (with his [apocryphal?] razor-blade baffle) to Jerry Bergonzi (who is known to have adjusted his own mouthpieces) to a contemporary young player like Matt Marantz (who has paying customers for his mouthpiece modifications), jazz saxophonists have long engaged in re-crafting their mouthpieces. 

There are however a few implausible elements to Crouch's claim. First, the Brilhart mouthpiece that Bird played was made from "Tonalin," a kind of plastic, so he would not have been at any risk of "brass poisoning." Bird does not seem to have played a metal mouthpiece on a regular basis until 1949. Secondly, while the Brilhart "Streamline" mouthpiece that Bird played was first manufactured in 1939, there is no evidence to suggest he played it until 1945, after he had left Kansas City. Instead, as saxophone technician Nicholas Trefeil documents, when Bird was with Jay McShann around 1940, he was playing an Otto Link "ResoChamber." 

The additional matter of precisely what it means when Crouch says that Bird "fil[ed his mouthpiece] down" and whether this is the best way to put it I will leave to the mouthpiece technicians. 

In any case, it is well known from photographic evidence that Bird played many different mouthpieces, and it is not at all unlikely that he would have attempted to adjust them himself in pursuit of his idiosyncratic sound. A sound which was, after all, perfect. 

Jazz "Covers"

In the current issue of Music Theory Online, René Rusch analyses Brad Mehldau's solo performance of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" from his album Deregulating Jazz. 

Rusch's discussion of "intertextuality" and "covers" in jazz neglects to point out that there is a categorical difference between an improvisatory jazz cover of a modern rock tune like "Paranoid Android" and the long tradition of jazz musicians interpreting American Songbook "standards" by Tin Pan Alley composers like Gershwin and Porter. The important distinction is that Broadway composers of the first half of the 20th century were strongly under the influence of jazz, the predominant popular music of the time, and that their compositions are therefore in a symbiotic relationship with the jazz performers that would use them as vehicles for improvisatory reinterpretation. Popular music of the past fifty years, including that of Radiohead, no longer bears this kind of relation to jazz. 

Perhaps it is this distance which intensifies the perceived feelings of anxiety and apprehension in Mehldau's performace of "Paranoid Android." These feelings should contrariwise be absent when the same artist approaches a standard like "All the Things You Are." 

Mike DiRubbo, "Threshold"

There is perhaps a higher proportion of milquetoast players on the alto saxophone than on any other instrument in jazz. Mike DiRubbo is decidedly not one of them. Here is the latest release from his working quintet. My brief review is reposted below:

  

"Mike DiRubbo is one of the world’s foremost alto saxophonists, and this new release from his actively working band demonstrates why. Like his forebears Charlie Parker and Jackie McLean, DiRubbo plays the alto with tenor-like toughness, as well as an immediately recognizable sound and highly personal phrasing. In true modernist fashion, DiRubbo’s compositions and improvisations survey new harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic territory while simultaneously immersed in a knowledgeable and loving dialogue with the tradition of jazz, blues, and swing. Few contemporary recordings will match 'Threshold' for fierceness and authenticity of feeling."

Buy it!