Jams with Parker and Beiderbecke
Written By:
Steve Hochman - Special to The Times

The music of a lot of modern-jazz titans including - Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk - have had a presence in contemporary pop music through samples and artistic influence. But Charlie Parker, the prime mover of bebop, has been largely absent.

Now, System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Dr. John, Meshell Ndegeocello and hot hip-hop producers and DJs El-P, Dan the Automator and the X-Ecutioners are among those participating in "Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project.

Album producer Matthew Backer stresses, through, that this in not merely a remix album with the artists tweaking original tracks. Rather, the contributors have used the original material as the basis for their own experimentations in the spirit of Parker, a troubled soul who died in 1955 at the age 34.

"We're trying to start a revolution with this and pay homage to the revolutionary Charlie Parker, " he says. "The people we targeted to be on the album were targets because they carry on the legacy of free thinkers."

Tankian's revising of "Bird of Paradise," reconstructed with lyrics and vocals by the rocker, is typical of the project, Backer says.

"Serj built the track from the ground up, just turned the material inside out, "he says. "It's amazingly thrilling, like an adventure ride."

Dr. John teamed with the Kronos Quartet for a version of "Salt Peanuts" co-produced by Hal Willner (who oversaw tribute albums to composer Kurt Weill and jazzman Monk, among others) and electronica figure Mocean Worker.

The album is due Oct. 21 from Savoy Records, the label for which Parker recorded in the '40s and whose archives provided the original material for this project.