The Bird's Birthday!

Today is Charlie Parker's birthday. Bird would have been 90 today. To honor his memory, there's this wild recording of "Ornithology":



Yow! That is just amazing. I'm gonna spend the day playing it over and over and over. It's that good. Credits:

Charlie Parker, alto sax
Fats Navarro, Trumpet
Bud Powell, Piano
Max Roach, Drums
Bass unknown

Recorded in NYC in May, 1950

There's a story about a guy who had a grey parrot that could sing what Bird plays on this record. He says the bird learned to do it by listening to Bird records. Frankly, I don't believe it's possible. In fact, I don't see how it was possible for Bird to play this.