Popular Culture Review Vol. 1, December 1989 | Page 59
riveting performance.
If there is a theme to Bird beyond the life of Parker, the
struggling artist, it is the loner fighting against the system, a role
Eastwood has made famous with the Dirty Harry character. Charlie
Parker would certainly have been part of that.
For historical accuracy, Eastwood consulted with trumpeter
Red Rodney, a musical companion and close friend of Parker.
Rodney is given a significant role in the film as is Dizzy Gillespie,
who along with Parker, forged new directions in modem jazz. The
set of 52nd Street, the site of many Parker triumphs was also
meticulously re-created from old photographs. (10)
There is no better or more effective medium in popular culture
than film or television to communicate to the public a trend, a mode
of dress, a phrase, or a style of music. Already a winner of two
awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Bird promises to bring jazz to
its largest audience thus far and finally fulfill that role.
In addition, Bird comes at a time when jazz is experiencing a
significant boost from several fronts that include politicians as well
as popular culture. Yves Saint Laurent has a new fragrance called
“Jazz.” Drummer Max Roach, one o f the innovators of bebop
recently received a MacArthur Foundation grant o f $375,000.
Congressman John Conyers of Michigan succeeded in proposing
and seeing passed legislation that will make jazz officially a
national treasure^ 11)
Bird’s opening epigram, chosen by scriptwriter Oliansky
comes from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “There are no second acts in
American lives." In the nights and weeks following Parker’s death
at age 34, at the home of Baroness Nica De Koenigswarter, “Bird
Lives!” began appearing scrawled on the walls and streets of
Greenwich Village. Bird, the film, promises to fulfill that phrase
better than anyone could have dreamed.
University o f Nevada, Las Vegas
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William J. Moody