Ira Sullivan - "Bird Lives!" (Vee-Jay)

It’s a slogan in circulation since Bird flew the coop for the great hereafter, but one given continuous credence in the sounds of countless active saxophonists. Whether explicit and implicit, Charlie Parker tributes truly are legion. A few of my personal favorites include Max Roach’s Plays Charlie Parker; Bird’s Night, a Savoy date teaming the saxes of Cecil Payne, Phil Woods and Frank Socolow; and this memorial concert taped at Chicago’s Bird House in March of 1962. Ira Sullivan is someone for whom that overused appellation “living legend” most certainly applies. Here, his formidable sax skills are silenced in favor of trumpet and flugelhorn. The lacuna leaves reed duties Nicky Hill and results in some of the enigmatic saxophonist’s most extended soloing on record. The rhythm section includes Jodie Christian, Don Garrett and either Wilbur Campbell or Dorel Anderson on drums, two of whom would soon flirt repeatedly with freer forms. The first disc focuses on nutritious and delicious Bird feed, from a rippling “Klacktoveedsteene” to a closing medley of Gillespie’s “Be-Bop” hitched to the nursery-derived “Humpty Dumpty”. The second opens the quintet’s songbook to hardbop with readings of “Milestones”, “Omicron” and John Lewis’ “Sketches” alongside a small cache of earlier standards. In addition to plenty of illuminating playing from Hill, there are also strong showings from Christian, Garrett and Campbell and the band is tight without being constrictive. Sullivan’s brass sings through it all, matching persuasive bop velocity and precision with a tonal integrity that never wobbles or wavers. A museum exercise this most certainly is not and the vibrant declaration of the title resonates true in each well-recorded number.