Jake Dester’s Charlie Parker Transcriptions Bebop Articulation Key:

Unaccented

A note with no articulation marking is tongued neutrally like “Dah”.

Staccato

A note marked with a staccato is short and can be thought of as

“Dot”.

Accent

A note with an accent can be thought of has having a “T” attack, like

“Tah”.

Ghost Notes

A note (or group of notes) in parentheses is ghosted, meaning you put your

tongue on the reed, but the sound of the pitche(s) still come(s) through,

think an “L” sound as in “doodle”.

A scoop = lip up to the notated pitch while simultaneously fingering from a grace note a half-step below. For the sake of singing the line, you can

think “Dwah” (or “Twah” if it’s accented).

Scoop

© Jake Dester ∞

Slurs

Growl

Occasionally, Bird will “Growl”. This effect is made by singing while playing a

given pitch. Where I could tell what note Bird is singing, I notated it. Where I

couldn’t tell: your guess is as good as mine, but I think he’s often singing

the pitch he’s playing. It is also possible, especially with B’s (and potentially

B-flat, C, and C-sharp) in the staff that he is fingering the note an 8ve below and getting an overtone effect.

Marcato

A marcato articulation can be thought of as “Tot”.

Accented Staccato

Sometimes I have notated an accent and staccato on the same note. This

can also be thought of as “Tot”.

Legato

A legato marking means that the note has a neutral “Dah” articulation and

has its full rhythmic value. I often use this to specify that a quarter note is

not to be played short.

A slur covering a group of notes means that the notes within that slur are not

tongued. In the instance that you have ghost notes followed by non-ghosted

notes (as shown above), you are not re-attacking the non-ghosted note(s), but

rather just taking your tongue off of the reed making a sound like “La”.

© Jake Dester ∞

False Fingering

A plus sign indicates a “false” fingering. Bird often does this on D’s in the staff, basically using the high D fingering without the 8ve key.

“X” Notehead

When a note has an “X” for a note-head, that means that the note was

cracked or didn’t come through with fullness of tone. It could also be that a

lower pitch was fingered, but an overtone sounded; it’s hard to distinguish.

Overtones

When a note has a secondary note beneath it with a diamond-shaped note-

head, that means that the lower pitch is fingered, but the higher pitch is sounding.

A note followed by a downward curve means that it is lipped down in pitch.

Lip Down/Lip Fall

© Jake Dester ∞

& ### 44 8q = 205

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& ###12 Œ ‰ Jœ œ œ( ) œ œF#7

Jœ œ. jœ ˙B 7

Œ ‰ Jœ œ œ œ œE 7 .œ Jœ> œ œ œ œC#-7 F#7 ˙ Ó

B-7 E 7

& ###17 ‰ .œ> œ. œ.A±7 .œn Jœn> œ œn( ) œ œ>D-7 G 7 ˙ jœ# .œ Jœ

A±7 G 7

Œ ‰ Jœ œ œ( ) œ œF#7

Jœ œ. jœ> ˙B 7

& ###22 Œ ‰ jœ œ œ( ) œ œ>E 7

œ Œ ÓA6

Ó Œ œ œ œ œ#( )G#7 b9

.œ Jœ# Jœ œ. JœC#-

‰ Jœ ˙ ŒD#º G#7 b9

& ###27 œ œ> œ œ#> œ œ œ( ) œ#>C#-7

œ Œ Œ ‰ jœnF#7

.œ Jœ̂ ‰ Jœ œ jœ# œB-7

‰ .œ œ œ> œ œ#( )C#-7 F#7

& ###31

Jœ é œ. Jœ> .œ œ œ( œ# )3B 7

œ œ œ œ ˙B-7 E 7

‰ jœ .œ œ. œ.A6 jœ .œn Jœn œ œn œ œD-7 G 7

& ###35 ˙ jœ# .œ JœA±7 G 7

Œ œ œ̂ ‰ œ# œ œ̂F#7

‰ .œ> ÓB 7

‰ jœ œ œ( œ ) œ> œ œ>3

B-7 E 7

˙ ÓA6

Yardbird Suitecomposed by Charlie Parker in 1946

Alto Sax

transcribed by Jake Dester

as played by Charlie Parker (1920-1955) on March 28, 1946

A donation of $2 or more is suggested to help me continue my work. Click below!

& ###40 Œ ‰ œ# œ( ) œ œn> œn( ) œ œ œ#( )B-7 E 7 œ œ̂ Œ ‰ œ> œb œ œ( )

A62 œn> œ œ œ œn^ ‰ œ œn œ( )3

D-7 G 7

& ###43 œ> œ œ œb( ) œ œ( ) œn œ œ œn>3

A±7 G 7

œ œ œ#( œ ) œ œn œ> œ œ œ3

F#7 œ# œ œ( )œ œ œ( ) >̇3

B 7 E 7

& ###47 œ̂ œ œ( ) œ œ> œ œ>C#-7 F#7 œ œ œ œ( ) œ œ œ>

B-7 E 7

œ Œ Œ ‰ JœA±7 œn œ œn œ œn œ( ) œ> œD-7 G 7

& ###51 œ œ œn( œ ) œ œ> œ œA±7 G 7

œ#( ) œ> œn œ#( œ ) œ>+ œ œ( )

F#7

œ> œ( œ œ ) œ> œ( ) œ œB 7 jœ .œ Œ ‰ jœ

E 7

& ###55 jœ .œ ÓA6 G#7 b9

Œ œ œ# œ#( ) œ œ# œ œC#- jœ‹ ˙ Œ œ œ œD#º G#7 b9

& ###59 œ œ> œ œ( ) œ# œ( ) œ# œ œn œ( )3

C#-7

Jœ .œ> ÓF#7

‰ œ œ( ) œ# œ œ> œ œ> œ jœ œn3B-7

& ###62 œ œ( ) œn œ œ œ œ œ( ) œ# œ#>3

C#-7 F#7 œ œ( )œ œ œ œ# œ œ( œ ) œ>B 7

œ œ( ) œ œ( ) œ œn> œ( œ# )B-7 E 7

& ###65 œ̂ Œ ‰ œ> œ œ( )A6

Jœn> œ. Jœn^ ‰ œ> œn œ( )D-7 G 7 œé œ( œn ) œ œ œ œ œ

3A±7 G 7

œ# œ œ œ œ œ.F#7

2 Yardbird Suite - transcribed by Jake Dester

A donation of $2 or more is suggested to help me continue my work. Click below!

& ###69 Jœ .œ ÓB 7

Ó œ̂ œ œ>B-7 E 7 œ Œ œn œ œ œ œA6 œ œ> œn œ( ) œ œ œ( )B-7 E 7

.œ Jœ ÓA6

Miles Davis Solo

& ###74 8Lucky Thompson 8Miles Lucky Arvin Garrison

& ###137 8Dodo Marmarosa

‰ .œ> œ. œ.A6 .œn> Jœn œ œn( ) œ jœ# œ>D-7 G 7 ˙ jœ# .œ JœA±7 G 7

& ###148 œ œ œ ‰ œ# œ œF#7‰ .œ> ÓB 7

Œ œ œ( œ œ ) œ œ œ#( ) œ œ œ œ( )B-7 E 7 wA6 ˙ Ó

3Yardbird Suite - transcribed by Jake Dester

A donation of $2 or more is suggested to help me continue my work. Click below!