‘Bird Takes Music Full Circle

When Clint Eastwood handed Lennie Niehaus the script of “Bird” to read early last year, Niehaus embarked on the artistic adventure of his career.

“It’s been the musical thrill of my life,” said the 59-year-old composer-arranger-altoist of his work as musical supervisor on “Bird,” the Eastwood produced-and-directed film about the legendary alto player Charlie Parker. “I had idolized Bird since I was a teen-ager,” added Niehaus, who has written scores for such Eastwood films as “Tightrope” and “Heartbreak Ridge.”

Though the film won’t be shown in the Los Angeles area until Oct. 14, the original motion picture sound track, “Bird” (CBS), which Niehaus oversaw, has just been

released. The sound track serves as a complement to the film, in that versions of tunes that are truncated in the movie are heard in their complete form on the LP.

The development of the score was a fascinating, complicated and arduous process, Niehaus said.

First, he and Eastwood spent hours listening to any available recordings of Parker, whose supernova-like life burned out on March 12, 1955, when he died of a myriad of health complications at the age of 34.

Then the two sought previously unreleased renditions by the altoist. “Clint wanted things that people had never heard, and he would go out of his way to hear something if there was a chance it was of quality,” Niehaus said recently in Eastwood’s offices on the lot at the Burbank Studios. To this end, Eastwood obtained tapes from Chan Richardson, Bird’s last steady companion, never-issued recordings that make up half the “Bird” sound track.

Once the Parker recordings to be used had been gathered, the next quandary was how to present them. “The obvious thing was to transcribe the solos, get somebody that sounds a lot like Bird and then rerecord them,” Niehaus said. “But Clint didn’t want to go that way. He wanted Bird to play Bird. He thought there would be a lot of guys who’d come close, but it wouldn’t be exactly the same.”

So Niehaus, working first with Greg Geddes of Chace Productions, and later with Eastwood’s scoring mixer, Bobby Fernandez, spent hours isolating Parker’s horn by eliminating most of the original accompaniment, particularly piano, bass and drums.

Then, in early September, 1987, Niehaus began rerecording the Parker solos and other accompanying parts in stereo, using such players as bassist Ray Brown; trumpeters Jon Faddis and Red Rodney (the latter is portrayed in the film); pianists Monty Alexander, Walter Davis Jr. and Barry Harris; and vibist Charlie Shoemake.

“Dizzy Gillespie, a close associate of Bird’s who’s also depicted in the film, and Ray Brown, who played with Bird at 19, helped choose the players,” Niehaus said. “Clint wanted to go with the recommendations of the guys who were there. We wanted it to be as authentic as possible.”

Asked why some seemingly essential players, such as pianist Hank Jones, drummers Max Roach and Roy Haynes and vibist Milt Jackson, all of whom played and recorded with Parker, weren’t used, Niehaus said: “A lot of people we asked either weren’t available or wanted too much money.”

Some tunes, like “Lester Leaps In,” which is heard at the film’s outset, were easy to record because the tunes were simply a Parker solo from beginning to end. Others, such as “Ornithology,” where the altoist played the melody with trumpet and vibes, were more difficult because it was impossible to eliminate the sound of the other lead instruments.

“We got Charles Macpherson to play the ensembles or melodies on those tunes where Bird played the melody with Diz or Red” Niehaus said. These new melodies were followed by the original Parker solo, again with new accompaniment. Macpherson, a veteran bebop alto player, also plays in some newly recorded sequences in the film that aren’t included on the sound track. Besides overseeing the rerecording of Parker, Niehaus also wrote any additional source music used in the film, and taught Forest Whitaker, who stars as Parker, how to finger the alto properly, in keeping with Eastwood’s desire for authenticity.