Customer Rating:  
Summary: ......SNOBS AHOY PART 2!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment: Totally agree with snobs ahoy part 1..............complete ignorance and closed mindedness from a number of "old school.jazz purists" i am quite sure before Bird himself people who listened to his music were offened by its new (YES JAZZ HAS NOT BEEN AROUND SINCE THE BEGINING OF TIME) sound and modern approach so this is not something new..just some people who think pure music only spaned there lives and forget to realize they too once were in the same modern boat as this great album but fail to see it!! STUCK IN THE MUD CLOSED MINDED FOOLS STAY AWAY FROM THIS RELEASE IT WAS NOT INTENDED FOR YOU....OPEN MINDED PRGRESSIVE PEOPLE ENJOY!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beware!
Comment: This is not Charlie Parker, this is a terrible concoction. I didn't read carefully, bought the wrong CD. This is just a lot of modern garbage that sounds worse than radio static. I wanted a Parker CD because he plays a King Super 20, two members of our household play that sax. But you won't hear The Bird on this CD. Really misleading to write "BIRD UP" on the label!
Customer Rating:
Summary: just not fun
Comment: I'm not a big fan of this album. Why? It isn't because I hold Charlie Parker in a pantheon of untouchable greats--I think anyone and everyone should be open to being remixed, no matter how venerable their status in the halls of music. No, the reason I don't like this album is because it seems like the remixers didn't care about the music they remixed--a good remix compliments the original, it doesn't just cut and paste certain moments from old songs. you've got to find that original spirit and soul thats in the work, the original "wow" moment, and lend your voice to the chorus--every song that is being remixed is a communication from the artist (charlie parker) to the audience as a whole--they are trying to tell us something--something about what it means to be alive and human--a remixer's job is not to just take old recordings and make them totally new and hip. a remixer's got to be saying, "oh yeah charlie, I understand, here's what your song said to me, here's what your song meant to me"--most of those songs on this album feel like some electronic guy who's never cared about charlie parker a day in his/her life just got a cd in the mail with directions to "remix it"--so he goes about cutting and pasting random parts into places in some pre-thought-out electronic/hiphop song that has nothing to do with the original--and that's too bad--another complaint I have is that they use original, poor audio quality, recordings--remixing these with high production sounds produces a clashing mix--now I know that this is suppossed to pay reverence to Mr. Parker himself, but the difference in sound quality between the old sounds and the new sounds becomes a somewhat grating experience--either make the new sounds sound like old ones, or rework the old sounds to the same level of fidelity
Customer Rating:
Summary: Depends On Your Taste
Comment: This disc really didn't do too much for me. Keep in mind that doesn't mean that you shouldn't buy this because this is very much going to be an individual preference type thing. It just wasn't my cup of tea, that's all. So my rating is solely based on my personal experience and should not deter those who feel they would be interested in this.
There have been some flames thrown between reviewers on this album so let me just say this: I think it is great that these guys got together and decided to do a tribute to Charlie Parker. I would also hope that people would purchase Bird's original recordings as well so they can get an idea of what his music was really like and hopefully get an idea of how much of a true genius the man was. There have been complaints of snobbery by other reviewers and an unwillingness of older generations to accept the music of younger generations. I will say this: I am a musician and in my mid twenties and I will freely admit that when it comes to snobbery in music my generation and the ones younger than me tend to be the snobs most of the time. There are so many younger people nowadays who have no knowledge (and don't care to learn about) the musicains that came before them. That truly is a shame because we must always keep in mind that if it wasn't for those who came before us, we wouldn't be here. And I do agree with the statement that music today is way too much about image and not about making good music. I also agree with the statement that house and hip hop have their roots in jazz. Now here's another question for you: Before you go ripping on older people for not realizing that house and hip hop came out of jazz, how many younger people today know that those musical forms have their roots in jazz and could name any of those great jazz musicians that came first and paved the way for the house/hip hop guys out there today?
Finally, there's been the question of whether or not Bird would have liked this recording. Would Bird have approved of this recording? Who can say? He's not here to give his opinion and I'm not going to go putting words into the man's mouth.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Snobs Ahoy!
Comment: I am very disappointed at the pervasive negativity here. It's a real shame there are so many narrow-minded snobs (namely one "Jay from Chicago") who are so foolishly set in their ways, that they think anything new, modern, or part of a "younger generation" is automatically inferior to the one or two styles of music they so foolishly limit themselves to. Styles like hip hop and electronica evolved from jazz, and only the most ignorant of "music fans" would claim there's no talent or creativity within these styles.
Anyone who is willing to stop shouting "Blasphemy!" long enough to actually LISTEN to the damn thing should be able to see that this is a reverent, and very well-made tribute. With artists like Dan the Automator, Serj Tankian, El-P, RZA, and Hubert Laws, there's a wide variety of interesting sounds here. Hal Willner's Whoops I'm an Indian (cool name, isn't it?) make some particularly noteworthy contributions as well.
So, all of you who possess an open mind, and aren't hopelessly lost in the past, I urge you to give this a chance. Hell, I bet even Charlie himself would approve of this work, despite what the old-timers may want to believe. After all, the true essence of jazz was all about looking to the future, not the past.
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