Word: robinsons
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Live Bird" is both rich and dense, condensing in the short space of an hour the history, career, and demise of legendary alto-saxophonist Charlie Parker, who died at 35, wasted by drugs and alcohol. Robinson portrays Parker in the late stages of alcoholism, playing a final gig for desperately needed money. As Robinson mimes interaction with a bartender, a young interviewer, friends, and past-acquaintances at the bar, we learn the sad facts of Parker's short life: his estrangement from wife and child, his destitution in the wake of his fellow musicians' celebrity and success, and his inability...
...Robinson portrays Parker with deft restraint, convincing us that he has resurrected the sad genius on the bare, black stage. This transcendence is successful in part because Robinson intersperses his monologue with lengthy performances of Parker's own saxophone solos: "Koko", "Warming up a Riff", and "Parker's Mood". Robinson plays so well and so compellingly that we can only imagine the sublime experiences of hearing Parker himself play live. The sax provides a respite from the depressing facts of Parker's life; when Robinson stops playing, we miss its mellow loveliness. The instrument itself becomes a symbol...
Parker, in Robinson's hands, is doubly damned, both by his self-destructiveness and his awareness of his own role in this destruction. In one scene, he warns a young man not to make the mistakes he has made with drugs and alcohol: "If you mess with that shit you miss the best years of your life, years of pure creation". "Live Bird" makes us realize just how much we've missed out on in losing Charlie Parker so young...
...play is not without its flaws. A meandering subplot in which Parker leaves the bar to wander next door is perplexing and distracting, and moments of direct interaction between Robinson and the audience come a bit too frequently. This interaction works when Robinson-as - Parker dedicates a song to a young woman in the audience, but is less successful when he addresses certain audience members as if they were acquaintances and expects them to improvise their half of the dialogue. These minor excesses are not enough to mar the subtle, touching portrait of Parker painted by Robinson's "Live Bird...
...this is a shame given the quality of Robinson's musical compositions and the unmistakable talents of the band, formed by Robinson himself on saxophone, Kevin Crockett on guitar and Dwight Hart on drums. It would be much more enjoyable -- and sensible -- to hear the trio play for an hour without the interference of the play's pseudo-narrative and the ridiculous fumbling of the weak cast, especially the offensive Miss Futorian in an inane cameo as a white store owner who launches inexplicable tirades against the black band members...