Re- GRGR(5) -- on Parker an

[Paul Mackin]

Will amplifies on what others have said:

 Parker took the
chords to Cherokee and "extended them upward from the root (the 1) past the
usual extend of chords (the seventh tone) to the ninth, thirteenth, etc.,
building these brand new chords from which new melodic choices were possible. 
These new chords were then a "reharmonization" of the original tune. Then,
Parker would improvise (or write) a brand new melody to go with the new hormony
(or vice versa) and have a new tune based on the structure of the original. 
"Koko" was based on "Cherokee" in that way.

I might add, as a minor sidelight,  that no credit had to go to Ray Noble on the recordings of KoKo.  Charlie Parker is given as composer--on my copy of the piece anyway. Unlike say with Embraceable You or Sweet Georgia Brown, etc., etc.
.
Will again:
It's said that part of what the boppers were doing was not only breaking
out of the harmonic and rhythmic confines of swing but also creating a music so
complex that the pretenders couldn't understand it and then steal it.

As I recall, the latter is what DIZZY said. Charlie in his usual understated
way said it was only a technical innovation.


				Paul M.