Bird Feathers

Barry used Charlie Parker’s Bird Feathers in a Hague class to make a point about rhythm: sing the line and think of its rhythm rather than its notes. A 1998 JazzTimes profile also finds him writing words for it.

moments in class: 3
recordings: 1
Barry plays it: 1

What he teaches through it

In a Hague class Barry sang the Bird Feathers line, spoke of a Bird solo that had bowled him over, and drew the lesson: think of the rhythm of a line rather than its notes.

Bird Feathers0:00 0:36

He wanted students to be able to look at a rhythm written out and sing it, and went straight on to a drill: after a count-off, everyone sings a phrase of their own that begins on the ‘and’ of one.

Bird Feathers1:12 1:48

In his own words

you think of the rhythm of the things, as opposed to the notes

Bird Feathers, The Hague, 1989–98. After singing Bird Feathers and recalling a Bird solo, in a Hague class. 0:36 Watch on YouTube at 0:36

I’m trying to put words to a tune that Bird wrote

Bill Milkowski, Barry Harris: Young-hearted Elder. Telling an early-morning caller what he is working on at the piano, in a 1998 JazzTimes profile. ¶3

In class

Every moment he works on it, with the ideas of the method it shows.

Bird Feathers

The Hague, 1989–98

0:00
Sings the Bird Feathers line to the class.
12.1
Watch on YouTube
0:36
Recalls a Bird solo that bowled him over: think of a line’s rhythm, not its notes.
1.1
Watch on YouTube at 0:36
1:12
Wants written rhythms sung; everyone starts a phrase of their own on the ‘and’ of one.
1.3 7.5
Watch on YouTube at 1:12

Barry plays it

“Bird Feathers” - Charles McPherson2016, 5 min YouTube

In the method

The ideas of the method these moments show, and how many moments each.