Testimony: The Legend of Charlie Parker

Composer: Sandy Evans
Libretto: Yusef Komunyakaa
Theatre Director: Nigel Jamieson
Musical Directors: Sandy Evans, Paul Grabowsky
Set Design: Dan Porta
Image Design: Andrew Savage
Sound Design: John O'Donnell
Lighting Design: John Rayment
Original Commission: Christopher Williams, ABC Audio Arts, 1995
Premiére: 16 January 2002, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Festival

Program

Overture (Sandy Evans)
Boxcars (Sandy Evans)
Chicken Shack Pt 1 (Sandy Evans)
Chicken Shack Pt 2 (Sandy Evans)
Purple Dress (Sandy Evans)
Deep South (Sandy Evans)
A Day Like Today (Sandy Evans)
Abel & Cain (Sandy Evans)
Black Cockatoo (Sandy Evans)
Camarillo Pt 1 (Sandy Evans)
Camarillo Pt 2 (Sandy Evans)
Addie’s Boy (Sandy Evans)
Pree’s Funeral Song (Sandy Evans)
Barrow Street (Sandy Evans)
Moose the Mooche (Charlie Parker, arr. Sandy Evans)
A Soft Touch for Strings (Sandy Evans)
Baroness Pannonica (Sandy Evans)
Finale (Sandy Evans)
Coda (Sandy Evans)

Program Notes

Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker in his short lifetime revolutionised jazz improvisation, changing the face of jazz forever and shaping the course of 20th century music. Pulitzer prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa’s epic poem Testimony provides the libretto for a stunning new musical work paying homage to this jazz great. With original music by the eminent Australian composer and saxophonist Sandy Evans, Testimony features the Australian Art Orchestra and eleven vocalists. Nigel Jamieson directs.

In 1995 ABC producer Christopher Williams envisioned a piece for radio with jazz as its central theme. He joined the creative forces of Evans and Komunyakaa, Professor at Princeton University and elected to The Academy of American Poets. In 1999 Testimony was broadcast on ABC’s Soundscapes. Komunyakaa’s extraordinary libretto, comprising 14 sonnets for voice, took several years to complete. Sandy Evans’ score explores Charlie Parker’s influence on an eclectic range of popular music, and in particular bebop . She is inspired by Parker’s ideas and makes no attempt to recreate or copy Parker’s unique style of performance. The result is remarkably rich and evocative, encompassing a wide range of musical styles and performers - a moving testimony to Parker’s genius and a milestone in Australian music theatre.

Testimony was an initiative of Sydney Festival and Sydney Opera House in association with the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Tour History

2002 - Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Festival
2002 - Melbourne Concert Hall, Melbourne International Arts Festival
2003 - Festival Theatre, Adelaide Cabaret Festival

Performance Artists

Bob Coassin Trumpet
Scott Tinkler Trumpet
Phillip Slater Trumpet
James Greening Trombone
Adrian Sherriff Bass Trombone
Philip Rex Tuba / Double Bass
Sandy Evans Reeds
Lachlan Davidson Reeds
Paul Cutlan Reeds
Julien Wilson Reeds
Elliott Dalgleish Reeds
John Rodgers Violin
Carl Dewhurst Guitar
Paul Grabowsky Piano
Alister Spence Piano and Keyboards
Gary Costello Double Bass
Niko Schauble Drums
Alex PertouT Percussion
Vanessa Tomliinson Percussion

Collaborators: Nigel Jamieson, Theatre Director
Yusef Komunyakaa, Poet
Bobby C, Narrator
Toni Allayialis, Dan Barnett, Kristen Cornwell, Lily Dior, Tina Harrod, Joe 'Bebop' Lane, Michele Morgan, Jackie Orszaczky, Shelley Scown, Tanya Sparke, Kate Swadling: guest vocals

Duration: 2 hrs
Interval : Yes

Press for Testimony: The Legend of Charlie Parker

Swinging in Bird's Paradise

The Australian   (Lynden Barber)  11 Jan 2002

Excellent

Real Time  (Keith Gallasch)  January 2002

Soaring Tribute to Jazzman Bird

The Australian   (Hilary Shrubb)  18 January 2002

A True Marriage of Sound and Vision Sees Bird Take Flight

Sydney Morning Herald (John Shand), 18.01.02   

Jazz Opera Poet Jams With the Bird

  (Philip McCarthy)  9 January 2002

Tribute to a Genius

The Advertiser   (Patrick McDonald)  10 June 2003

Artistic Director's Notes

   

Composer's Notes