Supersax (And more than you'd ever care to know about Supersax)

Supersax Plays Bird (1972); out of print, but most cuts available on Youtube and used CD's on Amazon.com and eBay.

Videos from Supersax Plays Bird:

"Ko Ko" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VxS_CUhFgg

"Hot House" 

  

Supersax playing live: 

The concept of 4 (or 5) saxophones playing in harmony goes back to the earliest jazz big bands of the late 1920's and early 1930's.  The early arrangements of Duke Ellington, Don Redman (writing for Fletcher Henderson and other bands) and others would occasionally feature a chorus with the reeds playing in close harmony.  The master of composing the sax soli was Benny Carter, starting with his "Symphony in Riffs" in 1931 and stretching for almost 70 more years (check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2oYOOeU66I and  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQDwlY0REvw&list=PLqobyMeODCdr8GIyrg6W0epmnmnT3nNvj&index=3).  Carter's arrangements for saxes were different than most because their melody lines often sounded as though they could have been improvised solos. 

Well, the group Supersax took that concept to a logical conclusion by transcribing actual Charlie "Bird" Parker solos and then arranging them for 5 saxes and rhythm section, along with some help from one or two trumpets and/or trombones.  This group of Los Angeles-based musicians formed in the early 70's and gigged and recorded for about 2 decades, releasing about a dozen albums and winning some Grammys along the way.  Although the personnel for the group changed over the years (but always included some of L.A.'s very best jazz and session musicians), its constants were lead alto player and main arranger, Med Flory, co-founder Buddy Clark and baritone sax player Jack Nimitz.  

On their recordings, the group stuck to a pretty basic performance formula: the tune, followed by an arranged version of Parker's recorded solo, and, if there was any improvised soloing, it would be from a masterful brass player, usually Conte Candoli on trumpet or Carl Fontana or Frank Rosolino on trombone.  (As you'll see in the live video, at gigs the sax players also soloed.)  And, in most cases, the arrangements themselves also followed a technical formula, Parker's line would be played in unison (an octave apart) by the lead alto and the baritone sax, leaving the 3 interior voices (1 alto, 2 tenors) to provide the harmonies.  (These internal parts were entirely unmelodic, and therefore required even more amazing musicianship than playing the lead, which, no matter how intricate or fast, was a line all of these guys knew well and could sing from memory from repeated listening to Parker's recordings over many years.)

The bulk of the tunes on the album come from the mid-40's classics that launched the bop movement, such as "Ko Ko" (taken at an absurd tempo....I don't know if it's closer to 300 beats per minute or 400...my metronome doesn't go that high), "A Night in Tunisia" (featuring Parker's legendary alto break), "Be-Bop" (another scorcher) and the slow blues "Parker's Mood."   There are also a couple of tunes from the 1950 Verve release Charlie Parker with Strings (which started a trend of jazz musicians recording with small string sessions), "Just Friends" and "Repetition."

Listening to these tracks, I don't know what's the greater accomplishment, 5 guys playing such difficult parts with impeccable technical accuracy, a wonderful sense of swing and with complete synchronization of attack, dynamics and feeling...or that Flory, Clark and the other arrangers (including the great tenor man Warne Marsh) could transcribe Bird's solos so accurately in the first place.  But, in any event, if you love the sound of the saxophone (or better yet, saxophones) or the music of Charlie Parker, check out this album and Supersax's other releases, including Salt Peanuts and their various collaborations with the vocal group, L.A. Voices.