Charlie Parker, music · First recorded by the Charlie Parker Septet for Dial Records, Los Angeles
Yardbird Suite
Yardbird Suite is a 32-bar bebop tune by Charlie Parker, first recorded in 1946. Its changes are original, not borrowed from an older song, and beboppers treated its melody as an anthem. Bud Powell, Max Roach and Joe Lovano recorded it, and singers have set words to it.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Charlie Parker Septet✓
- 2 Hear it sung Carmen McRae✓
- 3 Hear it on piano Bud Powell Trio✓
- 4 Hear two horns and no piano Chet Baker and Stan Getz✓
- 5 Hear a hard bop quartet The Max Roach 4✓
- 6 Hear a guitar in the band Hampton Hawes✓
- 7 Hear an alto saxophone lead Frank Morgan Quartet✓
- 8 Hear it reimagined Joe Lovano Us Five✓
How the tune works
Thirty-two bars in four sections of eight, A A B A, in C major. Each A section opens on C6, drops to Fm7 and B♭7 in bar 2, then plays C7 B♭7 and A7. Bars 5 and 6 are D7 and G7. The first A finishes with Em7 A7 and Dm7 G7. The second A finishes with C6 and F♯m7♭5 B7♭9, which turns toward the bridge. The bridge works through E minor (Em7, F♯m7♭5 B7♭9, Em7, A7) and then D minor (Dm7, Em7♭5 A7, D7, Dm7 G7). The last A repeats the opening and finishes with C6 and Dm7 G7, which leads into the next chorus.
The changes under Charlie Parker's solo on his 1946 Dial recording, transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Printed charts differ in places.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Source: Weimar Jazz Database: Charlie Parker, Yardbird Suite
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Parker's own 1946 recording and Carmen McRae singing the tune, then moves to a piano trio, a pianoless trumpet and tenor quartet, and Max Roach's hard bop quartet. It ends with a quartet with guitar, an alto saxophone quartet and Joe Lovano's twelve-minute reading.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Charlie Parker Septet 1946
Yardbird Suite / Moose the Mooche
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- Listen for
- Follow one chorus of the 32-bar form: A, A, the bridge, then the last A. In the bridge the harmony moves through E minor and D minor before it comes home to C.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chords under the recording, one chord per bar and two chords where the chart shows two, and mark where the bridge starts. The pace is fast, so a smaller version is to tap four beats per bar and count the 32 bars.
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Step 2 · Hear it sung Now playing
Carmen McRae 1955
By Special Request
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- Listen for
- McRae scats and trades phrases with Herbie Mann's flute, and an accordion is in the band.
- Try this
- Follow the chart while she sings and mark where each A section starts again. If you play chords, strum one chord per bar under the recording.
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Step 3 · Hear it on piano Now playing
Bud Powell Trio 1957
Bud Plays Bird
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- Listen for
- A bebop pianist with only bass and drums. Follow the chart through each chorus and mark where the bridge arrives.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chords on piano or guitar under the recording, one chord per bar. Where the chart shows two chords in a bar, give each two beats.
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Step 4 · Hear two horns and no piano Now playing
Chet Baker and Stan Getz 1953
West Coast Live
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- Listen for
- Trumpet and tenor saxophone with only bass and drums behind them. Follow the chart and mark where each bridge starts.
- Try this
- Play only the root of each chord from the chart, one note per bar, along with the recording. Keep going through the bridge and back to the last A.
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Step 5 · Hear a hard bop quartet Now playing
The Max Roach 4 1957
The Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker
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- Listen for
- Kenny Dorham's trumpet and Hank Mobley's tenor saxophone play with only bass and drums behind them. Count the choruses and mark where each bridge starts.
- Try this
- Play the root of each chord from the chart with the recording, one note per bar. In bars where the chart shows two chords, play one note for each.
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Step 6 · Hear a guitar in the band Now playing
Hampton Hawes 1958
Four!
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- Listen for
- Barney Kessel's guitar sits beside Hampton Hawes's piano, with Red Mitchell on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. The track runs almost seven minutes, so count how many 32-bar choruses go by.
- Try this
- On guitar or piano, play the chart's chords under the recording, one chord per bar, and go around the chart again each time the A section returns. Start with one chorus and stop.
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Step 7 · Hear an alto saxophone lead Now playing
Frank Morgan Quartet 1988
Yardbird Suite
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Frank Morgan's alto saxophone leads a quartet with piano, bass and drums. At almost eight minutes the form comes around many times, so count the choruses.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chords under the recording, one chord per bar. The track is long, so try three choruses first and stop at the end of the third.
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Step 8 · Hear it reimagined Now playing
Joe Lovano Us Five 2010
Bird Songs
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- Listen for
- The track begins as a free-floating ballad and later picks up speed in 6/8, according to Wikipedia. Listen for where the 32-bar form becomes steady.
- Try this
- This is the hardest step. Follow the chart through the slow opening, then count 6/8 as two groups of three once the pace picks up. A smaller version is to listen once and tap one pulse per group of three.
More great versions
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Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra 1947
The Essential Claude Thornhill: The Columbia Years
Gil Evans arranged the tune for Claude Thornhill's big band in 1947, a year after Parker's record.
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Earl Coleman and His All Stars (with Fats Navarro) 1948
Dial 753
Earl Coleman was the first singer to record the vocal version of the song, in November 1948, with Fats Navarro on trumpet and Max Roach on drums.
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The Modern Jazz Quartet 1958
The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn, Volume 2
A live set from the Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, in August 1958.
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Eddie Jefferson 1969
Come Along with Me
Eddie Jefferson wrote his own words for the tune, a celebration of bebop and its originators, and recorded them in New York in August 1969.
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Karrin Allyson 1994
Azure-Té
Karrin Allyson sings the tune on her third album, with alto saxophone, piano, bass and drums.
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Roy Haynes 2001
Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker
Drummer Roy Haynes leads a quintet with Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone and Roy Hargrove on trumpet, recorded in New York in March 2001 for a Parker tribute album.