"Parker's Mood" Full ACCURATE Transcription Alto Sax Charlie "Bird" Parker

"Parker's Mood" is my favorite of all the Omnibook Parker tunes, and as I was learning it I noticed that there are a few mistakes, which is normal considering that Jamey Aebersold wrote these at a time when only record and tape players existed, and before remastered versions were available. I slowed it down in parts in which I was unsure and rewrote it more accurately, and on top of that I added a number of expressions.

As I always say: with the greats it's not about WHAT they played but HOW they played it, and this is why it's so important to listen to the original recordings, take notes, play along phrase by phrase, and extract as much detail as you can. If you can play even one phrase EXACTLY like the player you admire, you will improve tremendously. That's how you learn. Dive deep, don't skim.

Charlie Parker's "Parker's Mood" was recorded in 1948 for Savoy records. Brian Priestley dubbed it "a slow blues masterpiece". Charlie Parker would have been 102 years old today, and with this being my favorite recording of his, I shall let it serve as my tribute to his greatness and a thank you for the contributions he made to music.

(key: "x" for ghost note, as in "dooden", "h" for a "hoo" type of attack, "v" for a "voo" type of attack, "T K" for double tonguing, as in "taka", and there are a number of places where you will finger the note but sound another note, indicated by the smaller note adjacent and a "bend down/up" written above it". Sixteenths are swinging in this performance).