*I posted all the recordings I could find on Youtube that go with this transcription book at the bottom of this review………Enjoy!
Today, I am excited to be reviewing the Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 that has just been released by Hal Leonard. This great book of transcriptions was created by Chris “Doc” Stewart who also transcribed the Sonny Rollins Omnibook and the Cannonball Adderley Omnibook that I reviewed earlier last year. Hal Leonard was kind enough to send me the Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 in Eb and Bb to review here on the site.
Before I get into the book, let me just say that Charlie Parker has had a huge impact on me as a sax player. When I was in junior high school, I was introduced to the saxophone playing of Charlie “Bird” Parker by my sax teacher. It was 9th grade and up to that point all I had listened to was Spyro Gyra, Chuck Mangione, Dave Sanborn and the Yellowjackets. My saxophone teacher told me that if I wanted to be good at jazz then I had to get the “Omnibook” and check out Charlie Parker.
I immediately went to the local music store and bought the Charlie Parker Omnibook and started working on it. I have to admit that these solos were extremely hard and frustrating for my 9th grade brain to handle. The hardest thing for me to figure out (besides all the fast notes and hard rhythms…..) was why Parker would play a certain lick or phrase over a specific chord. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it in my young mind. I was learning all my chords from “Patterns for Jazz” by Jerry Coker and was learning what notes sounded good over what chords but when I looked at a Charlie Parker solo, I had trouble seeing how he was using these same notes. It just seemed like he was playing whatever the heck he wanted to and it sounded great. That’s what I wanted to do!
Youtube Links of Solos from Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 at bottom of page!
It wasn’t until many years later, when I was in college that I started to understand a bit more about what Parker was doing. Even to this day, I am in awe when I hear a recording of his. His lines are so harmonically rich. His rhythmic ideas and displacements are mind boggling. You just get a sense that he is playing whatever he wants, whenever he wants and he makes it sound great over the chords……….
The original Omnibook is still sitting on my desk within arms reach even after all these years. I don’t think it has ever left my desk. It is so important to me that to put it across the room on my book shelf just seems wrong. I know that I will be reaching for it at any minute, so I keep it close at hand. If I could only bring five music books to a desert island with me, the original Charlie Parker Omnibook would be one of them!
When I first heard that Hal Leonard was publishing a second Charlie Parker Omnibook with sixty new solos I was incredibly excited. Sixty new Charlie Parker solos for me to dig into! I couldn’t wait to get these books and dive in!
The Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2
The Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 is created with the same standard of excellence as the other Hal Leonard Omnibooks. It is coil bound so it is easy to open on a music stand and it stays open and flat when you are reading from it. The coils are big enough that it is easy to turn the pages quickly on the fly. The book is 230 pages long and has 60 solos in it. Here is the complete song list:
Youtube Links of Solos from Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 at bottom of page!
I found as many of these recordings as I could on Youtube and saved you about 2 hours and 20 minutes of your time by listing all the links I found at the bottom of this review. As I followed along with the Eb transcriptions, I quickly realized that one of the coolest aspects of this new Omnibook is that a lot of these tunes are standards. You get to hear and see on the page what Charlie Parker chooses to play over many other keys. As great as the original Charlie Parker Omnibook was, all the solos in it are really in only a handful of keys and most of those are sharp keys (except Chi Chi and Donna Lee). The new Omnibook still has a lot of solos in G, A and D but there is a lot more variety with the chord changes he is playing over than in the original Omnibook.
Here are a couple of highlights I noticed in the new Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2:
- Bird of Paradise-basically the changes to All the Things You Are. It’s great to hear Bird go to town over these standard changes.
- Bird’s Nest-this tune is rhythm changes in G with a different bridge. You get to hear many of the tried and true Bird RC lines on this solo.
- Body and Soul-recorded in 1941 which means Bird is like 21 years old. Wow! He kills it even at 21! The classic solo of his on Cherokee was recorded later that same year and is in this book also. Love that solo!
- Bongo Beep & Bongo Bop are two tunes I never heard before. They are on an A blues and are perfect solos if you want to learn how to play bebop lines on a blues. You hear some Bird blues lines from the original Omnibook on these as well.
- Cool Blues-Incredible solo also. You can hear Bird play a few popular quotes and the audience immediately respond which is cool.
- I’ve Found a New Baby-more from the 21 year old Bird! Classic!
- Indiana-changes to Donna Lee. Check out the lick on the first page, lines 3 & 4. Love that! Parker ends the tune with Donna Lee.
- Liza-man, the melody sounds rough but Bird’s solo kills!
- My Heart Tells Me-another 21 year old Bird with what sounds like that same guitar player from the 1941 Cherokee clip.
- My Old Flame-I have never heard this before. Beautiful effortless playing by Bird! A masterpiece!
- Oh, Lady Be Good-19 or 20 year old Bird. This is the earliest recording I have heard. He plays great but you can really hear the difference in his playing from then compared to later.
- Out of Nowhere-for some reason listening to this one, I got a strong Phil Woods vibe. Not sure why but I think Bird played some stylistic lines that maybe Mr. Woods picked up himself back in the day.
- Sippin’ at Bells-Bird on tenor sax……(I prefer him on alto…….just sayin’)
- Tiny’s Tempo-Another killin’ blues solo in Birds favorite key of G.
- A Night in Tunisia-This is not the version with the infamous solo break but another version. This break is just as deadly! Bird even plays an altissimo A in this solo!!
- East of the Sun-Great solo with string and horns behind Bird.
- Meandering-a ballad where Bird plays some stunning beautiful lines.
These are just the tip of the iceberg. I still have to get to many of the other tunes. I will say that if you are like me and know your Omnibook really well, then checking out Volume 2 will pleasantly surprise you. Before I received the book, I honestly assumed that it would be filled with most of the same lines that Parker played in the original Omnibook but this is not the case at all. There is a lot of new interesting Bird material here that will blow your mind!
Youtube Links of Solos from Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 at bottom of page!
Here is a great paragraph that Chris “Doc” Stewart wrote in the preface of the book that has some great details in it:
“There are a few differences between the two Omnibook volumes worth mentioning. Two titles have been repeated from the original book including Confirmation and Visa. The first represents one of Bird’s biggest hits played in an entirely different fashion from the version in the original Omnibook and is one of his most outstanding solo performances of all time. Transcribing the alternate Birdland version of Visa showcases my skillful use of technology to resurrect a solo that is incomplete and nearly inaudible. I’ve included more ballad performances that are a must for any jazz alto player to know. You will also appreciate some teenage Bird when you discover the obvious genius of what was to come from some early recordings. The original Omnibook also contains sixty tunes, but all were written by Charlie Parker. I have included many tunes by other authors in this volume. This permitted the last difference where I made an effort to include titles where we discover Bird approaching tunes with more complex chord changes and less common key signatures. The original Omnibook clearly is a speed demon with several tunes exceeding 360 bpm (6 beats/sec)-although this volume still has several burners exceeding 300 bpm that will challenge the most adept player. You can the cool off with some ballads.
What you’re about to experience comes from thousands of hours of analysis and collaboration, and my love of jazz music, all tuned toward carrying on a legacy of the original Charlie Parker Omnibook in a new digital era. It is my hope that it continues to be a major reference for students of jazz, professional musicians and music historians for years to come.” Chris “Doc” Stewart
The Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2
The first thing I noticed about the Charlie Parker Omnibook is that Chris “Doc” Stewart went above and beyond in the details included in these transcriptions. In many of the transcriptions, there are trumpet lines included, piano lines (many with the voicing written out), bass cues, snare hits and even french horn lines. During the rests it tells you what instrument is soloing or if there is trading fours with drums going on. All of these specifics make it so much easier to find where you are in the transcriptions.
Another great feature is that the melodies are included on every transcription. Many transcriptions these days only include the solos because of copyright limitations but Hal Leonard has included these great melodies and written them out in detail.
There are a ton of articulation markings throughout each solo to help with how to play these solos like Charlie Parker. As I look through the book I see all sorts of slurs, accents, staccato markings, ghost notes, grace notes, scooped notes, etc…….Although articulation markings are a great tool to help a student figure out how to articulate, they do make the page a bit more cluttered. I found myself missing the simplicity of the original Omnibook’s style of having no articulation markings at all. I could just focus on the notes and then listen to Charlie Parker to see how he articulated them and try to copy what I heard.
It is also obvious that Chris “Doc” Stewart did not just fill in the known chords of each tune over the transcriptions but added the details of the chords even when there were alterations or substitutions. You can easily see this as you look through each tune and compare the chords of each chorus. Many times there are differences in each chorus as you compare chords. This is a cool feature for those of us interested in the harmonies going on behind these solos.
Youtube Links of Solos from Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 at bottom of page!
The one element of the book layout that I wish was different, is that the key signature is only on the first line of each page. I understand why this was done for the sake of giving more space to the notes, but when I was reading the transcription many times I would forget the key signature, look at the beginning of the line and think it was in C. I would then remember that the key signature is at the top of the page and have to look up there. It’s not a big deal but just something I have to remember when reading the music.
I will also add that as a sax player that plays both alto and tenor saxophone, I prefer to read this book in Eb on alto sax. It’s the lines Bird played with the same fingerings and range. The Bb book is cool to read for tenor sax and trumpet but to keep the higher alto lines in the range of the tenor sax many of those lines are taken down an octave. This usually means that the line might jump down or back up right in the middle of the line. Honestly, this couldn’t be avoided unless you had the tenor part going way up into the altissimo. Chris Stewart did a great job with the transposition aspect of the Bb and C books when you consider the range difficulties of these keys.
There is so much more I could write about, I truly am in love with Charlie Parker’s playing and what is captured on these pages! It is just a plethora of incredible new bop lines, licks, phrasings and melodic ideas that can be worked on for a lifetime. Amazing work by Chris “Doc” Stewart who is actually a MD, Senior Consultant & Assistant Professor at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine! Wow, all these transcriptions and he’s a doctor also! I would have loved to have this book on my stand next to the original Charlie Parker Omnibook when I was a kid! Thanks Chris Stewart for what must have been thousands of hours of work!
Great job by Hal Leonard in publishing another great Omnibook in their collection that includes John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Pass, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and now Cannonball Adderley. You can get the book from Amazon. (Hover your mouse over each ad below to see which instrument each book is for)
Eb Omnibook Bb Omnibook C Omnibook
If you end up getting the Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 please feel free to come back and share your thoughts and comments with all of us below. If you have other thoughts about Charlie Parker, I would love to hear them also. Thank you to Charlie Parker for who you were and your amazing contribution to jazz music and the saxophone. Steve
Addition because I’m a nice guy………..(this took me 2 1/2 hours to find all these clips…….)
Youtube Links of Solos from Charlie Parker Omnibook Volume 2 (If any of these links do not work, please let me know so I can fix the links. Thanks, Steve)
Bird Feathers
Bird of Paradise
Bird’s Nest
Body and Soul
Bongo Beep
Bongo Bop
Carvin’ the Bird
Cheers
Cherokee
Confirmation
Cool Blues
Crazeology
Dexterity
Dizzy Atmosphere
Drifting on a Reed
East of the Sun
• Easy to Love
Embraceable You
Groovin’ High
Hallelujah
• Hot House
I Get a Kick Out of You
I Remember You
I’ll Remember April
I’ve Found a New Baby
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Indiana
Klactoveededstene
Little Willie Leaps
Liza
Love for Sale
Lover
Mango Mangue
Meandering
Move
My Heart Belongs to Daddy
My Heart Tells Me
My Old Flame
A Night in Tunisia
Oh, Lady Be Good
On a Slow Boat to China
Out of Nowhere
Quasimodo
Repetition
Rock Salt a/k/a Rocker
‘Round Midnight
• Salt Peanuts
Sippin’ at Bells
The Song is You
The Squirrel
Star Eyes
Stupendous
Swedish Schnapps
Sweet Georgia Brown
They Didn’t Believe Me
This Time the Dream’s On Me
Tiny’s Tempo
• Visa
Wee (Allen’s Alley)
What is This Thing Called Love?
WOW what a rush! Much like you (and I’m sure most sax players), the original omnibook was the foundation for my first and continuing jazz study. My copy is always near and annotated, torn, coffee spilled, etc. I always forget how transcendent Bird was and how relevant he still is.
This new volume is a different beast than the first and I am in love all over again. The types of tunes make a big difference. It’s refreshing to see standards tackled by the master: how to take a standard and turn it inside out, play with the time, elevate it. And the live solos have a drastically different feel than Bird’s recorded solos. It’s a different playing experience listening and learning those solos.
I think it’s a perfect partner to volume 1. Now if only I could get better quality recordings of some of these solos…
How many beautiful ballads and what a sound structure! I will certainly buy the II Charlie Parker Omnibook.
Thanks Steve for your clip search. You really are a “Nice guy”!
Giuseppe.
Although I now play the tenor, I think I will buy the E-flat version, so I will train myself to move my hands like Bird; Steve, do you think you could recommend me a good cheap alto with good value for money as a second instrument?
Giuseppe,
I don’t know of a cheap alto sax but the one I suggest to students is a used Yamaha Yas-23. You can usually get a great condition one for like 450.00. They play pretty good and when you are done with it you can turn around and sell it for 450.00 again. I did this with two of my daughters who wanted to play sax. Didn’t lose any money on the deal either and they each got to try sax for a year or two. Steve
Thanks, Steve.
Yamaha 23 is a good sax, I thought that even used ones cost more. One of my two tenors is a Yamaha Yts 62 bought new in 1987 and still looks new and sounds great, a little bright; however, for a alto sax, the brilliance does not hurt. The mod. Yts 23 I remember was the model a little less professional and it was brighter, but I remember it sounded very good.
Thanks for the advice.
Giuseppe.
Steve: I received this book in the mail a day ago. I got the Eb book. This book has a lot of standards. I would say that overall the keys are harder and except for maybe playing the heads to the standards this book is harder than Vol 1.
I will be playing this book on tenor for the most part. Btw – there are at least 2 solos that Bird recorded on tenor. One is “Sippin’ At Bells.” Can’t remember the other one. Anyway there are endless hours of fun and practice.
If you are a tenor player like me please do not get the Bb version. Otherwise you will be jumping octaves a lot. Everything will lay so much better on the saxophone on the Eb Book.
Thanks for the review. What I can’t believe is that neither book has Parker’s Just Friends solo. That was one of Parker’s personal favorite recordings, and one of mine as well. I did have a copy of it but I was living in Paradise, Ca and both my houses burned down along with five saxophones, three flues, a Whisper Room, numerous great playing and expensive mouthpieces, all my sheet music. WTF. Maybe I’ll start rebuilding my library with this volume. I ordered a flute from the Flute Center of NY which of course came damaged. Par for the course. It’s been that way since November of last year. I want to order an alto sax but now I’m afraid to. Just kidding. In fact I’m going to order an alto tonight, can’t wait to start playing music again. I had to buy some furniture for the house I bought first. It still hasn’t come yet and ironically I might end up getting my horns before the furniture gets here at some point in the future. Maybe next year. I already ordered another Whisper room which was the best thing for my playing that I ever invested in because I could practice for hours any time of the night or day. Freedom! Onwards and upwards!!!
Hello, “says”, I answer you for the Bird songs played at the tenor sax; are, in the Savoy record of the August 14, 1947 session, with Miles Davis, John Lewis, Nelson Boyd and Max Roach:
Milestones (M. Davis)
Little Willie Leaps (M. Davis)
Half Nelson (M. Davis)
Sippin ‘at Bells (M. Davis)
In “Collector’s Items, by Miles Davis (Prestige), with Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Walter Bishop, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, recorded Jan. 30, 1953 (Bird’s tenor looks a lot like Sonny Rollins):
The Serpent’s Tooth (side one)
The Serpent’s Tooth (side two)
‘Round About Midnight
Compulsion.
These eight tracks are played by Bird at the tenor and are very beautiful.
Giuseppe
Hi Rob Payne,
Here in Italy, we saw on television the disaster that happened in California, in Paradise and, of course, I was impressed and afflicted identifying myself with the pain of those who must have had to abandon all their memories for a natural disaster, escaping to save their their lives and those of theirs animals, dogs, cats, horses … Really painful to think about it.
But, to know, does the State, in America, intervene to compensate at least the material damage suffered or, if you are not insured, you lose everything?
I’m glad you were able to start a new renaissance little by little, starting from the music … and I wish you all the best for a good future; also my country, a territory with enormous hydrogeological risk and also, often, devastated by fires, is, by now, devastated by natural tragedies to which governments, apart from small talk, do not devote much, or nothing, funds for prevention.
A hug from Rome … and … good jazz!
Giuseppe.
I will buy the version of the book in E flat, also if I play it with the tenor; in this case I think, however, that it is useless to buy the version with downloadable bases, because, playing with the tenor (in B flat) the musical score in E flat, I would go out of tune; quite right?
In Italy they still don’t distribute the book!
Giuseppe, Sorry, I don’t really understand your question here. “downloadable bases”? I’m not sure what you are asking? Steve
Hi Giuseppe,
Thanks for the kind words! The government provides some emergency services but if you didn’t have insurance you’d probably be out of luck. In fact right after the fire there was talk of tort reform (protects companies from law suits). So the state will probably do more for PG&E than the victims. Any way, I hope you are enjoying Charlie Parker’s music, what a gift to mankind! Good news, my alto came yesterday, a new Yani AW010 . Things are looking up.
Hi Rob,
Because one pay taxes if, then, a natural disaster, the State will not reimburse you?
Really a great gift is Bird’s music, for all humanity!
Toast with a bottle of Champagne to your new Yaganisawa and … wishes for the future!
Giuseppe.
Sorry Steve,
my english is not good; I wanted to say that they sell only the book with the musical scores, or a comprehensive version of the accompaniment that you can download with the Internet; as they write on Amazon: Charlie Parker Omnibook: E-flat Instruments Edition With Online Audio; Includes Downloadable Audio:
https://www.amazon.it/Charlie-Parker-Omnibook-flat-Downloadable/dp/1540037290/ref=sr_1_9?hvadid=79920783953336&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvqmt=p&keywords=charlie+parker+omnibook&qid=1554112388&s=gateway&sr=8-9
I hope the translator has made me understand it …
Once on some methods like Aebersold, they put a CD with the accompaniment of bass, piano and drums; now, some, instead of the CD, they put the access to audio tracks online, for downloading or sterling, using the unique code inside the book; in a method by Hal Leonard, “Amazing Phrasing”, which made me buy my teacher, there is also included “Playback +, a multi functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right (I’m copying from the book in question, I don’t even understand what it means …).
From what I understand on Amazon, even the Charlie Parker Omnibook 2 can be purchased either just a book with scores or with the access to tracks online, as described above.
Giuseppe.
I don’t think the Volume 2 Omnibook has an option that includes tracks. I have not seen that. Yes, if your goal is to play the solos with the tracks on Youtube, you would want the Eb book for alto and the Bb book for tenor. If you just want to play the solos like Parker did then I think reading the solos form the Eb book on tenor sax is fine. They are the same lines and licks that you will be learning. Steve
Not to insist, but, then, what does this advertising mean? (euro 31):
Charlie Parker Omnibook: E-flat Instruments Edition With Online Audio; Includes Downloadable Audio (English) Paperback – 1 Feb 2019
https://www.amazon.it/Charlie-Parker-Omnibook-flat-Downloadable/dp/1540037290/ref=sr_1_9?hvadid=79920783953336&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvqmt=p&keywords=charlie+parker+omnibook&qid=1554112388&s=gateway&sr=8- 9
Can I be misled by this other advertisement ?:
https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/improvisation/73331-charlie-parker-omnibook-volume-2-a.html
If the option with the tracks does not exist, I will be happy to play the solos on the book in E flat with the tenor!
Too bad, however, it would have been a nice idea, unlike the previous book, to sell it with tracks!
Thanks,
Giuseppe.
This is an ad for the original Charlie Parker Omnibook. It does look like it comes with audio tracks. My review is for the Volume 2 of the Omnibook which I haven’t seen tracks for. Many of the recordings are all on Youtube like i listed in the review. Steve
You’re right, I checked and the first string (https://www.amazon.it/Charlie-Parker-Omnibook-flat-Downloadable/dp/1540037290/ref=sr_1_9?hvadid=79920783953336&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvqmt=p&keywords=charlie+ parker + omnibook & qid = 1554112388 & s = gateway & sr = 8- 9)
refers to the Charlie Parker 1.
However, the second string (https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/improvisation/73331-charlie-parker-omnibook-volume-2-a.html)
refers to the Charie Parker 2, in fact there is “Dexterity”.
Maybe that guy he has tracks for his own cont.
Yes, I saw, and read, that you searched and entered all the recordings in the review of the book 2; I’ve also heard a lot of them, but I wasn’t referring to them!
Thank you,
A greeting,
Giuseppe.
Giuseppe, The link for the Omnibook 2 you posted just has a Youtube video of Doc Stewart (the person who wrote the Omnibook 2) playing the Dexterity solo over a midi track play along. Maybe he created the midi tracks play alongs when he finished the transcriptions for his own enjoyment. Maybe he will share them someday…….. Steve
Yes, as I thought; I got confused by that advertisement on Amazon of book 1 that I had confused for book2; in addition, seeing Mr. Stewart video … Maybe, as you say, in the future they will do the book 2 tracks …
It may be a good idea.
Excuse the confusion,
Giuseppe.
Of course the ideal is to study Bird’s vocabulary on alto. It all lays out so well and makes sense on alto. Sometimes it’s a little awkward to read through the Bb book on tenor.
However, it’s great to read through the Eb book on tenor, because it’s all laid out just like Bird played it. It’s all in the wrong key, but that’s OK. It’s good to learn the vocabulary the way it was played, then you can get good practice transposing later.
Yes, it helps to play the book in E flat with the tenor, so you practice moving your fingers like Bird did!
Giuseppe.