There are only a few surviving examples of Charlie Parker's musical handwriting. Four of them are reproduced in an article by Henry Martin in the journal "Music Theory Online." One of these examples is a lead sheet submitted to the Library of Congress for the copyright of "Bill's Bounce," a blues tune now known more generally as "Billie's Bounce."
Here is the original image of the lead sheet as it appears in Martin's article. It's a photostat - a bit more legible in the article, if you click the link above, but still difficult to read.
In the chart below, I have transcribed the photostat of Parker's sheet as exactly as possible, including some of Parker's notational idiosyncracies and possible errors:
Here's a link to the original recording.
In the photostat of his manuscript, Parker drew some rather elegant treble clefs. To me, the style of the notation indicates quite a bit of music-writing experience. For a lead sheet that was probably dashed off quickly, his manuscript is reasonably professional and legible.
The typed title in the photostat seems to have been pasted on after the chart was created. Was there another title under it? We may never know.
The bass line is written in two; the line shows Parker's attention to voice leading. His bass players would probably have played a 4/4 walking line rather than the 2-beat style shown.
Published versions of this tune do not match the manuscript. The most widely-known version is in the Charlie Parker Omnibook; a more accurate version (relative to the recording) is in The Best of Charlie Parker.
About the melody
• I'm pretty sure I hear an Eb (not D) on beat 4 of measure 1 in the recording. This and other discrepancies may have been "in the studio" revisions.
• In the recording, Parker adds a turn on beat 2 of measure 4.
• At the end of measure 3, every fakebook chart that I have ever seen shows two eighth notes (F, D) on beat 4. It almost sounds that way in the recording, but upon listening I think the D is not actually played, just implied, and Parker’s chart matches the recording.
• In measure 5 the Bb and C should have been written Ab and Bb; that's how it is played on the recording, and it sounds right that way. This is probably a written error.
• At the end of measure 5, Parker writes a G# when it would have been more proper, and clearer, to write an Ab. I can’t see any reason for this. Was it somehow more natural to him to think G#? The reason wouldn’t have been because G# concert transposes better when going from concert to alto key - G# would transpose to E#, and most musicians don't want to think or read an E#.
• From the beginning of the song to the middle of measure 6, the melody should probably have been written an octave lower, to be consistently in the same octave all the way through, as played in the recording. Perhaps Parker wrote it as he did to avoid cluttering the vertical spacing.
• The melody line in bar 9 outlines a Gm#7, anticipating the next measure. Outlining the upcoming change in solos is a common practice for Parker. I should note that this piece of the melody seems to be an example of a particular family of II V licks (see this post). It's interesting that Sonny Rollins' "Tenor Madness" uses the same lick, in the same spot in a 12-bar blues.
• The recording does not use the staccato/tenuto markings in measure 10.
About the chord symbols
It's hard to hear in the recording, but it's doubtful that the piano was meticulously following the chords on this sheet. However, the chord symbols do tell us something about Parker's concept for bebop blues.
The following harmonic features on this sheet often show up in Bird’s solo lines over blues changes. His blues solo lines as a rule never follow a single, repetitive set of changes from one chorus to the next, and do not necessarily match what the piano may be playing.
• Passing diminished chords in measures 2 and 6. He often uses this device in blues solos.
• Triads are indicated in a few places for the I and IV chords (he probably did not mean this to be taken literally), but measure 4 indicates F7 to Faug. This reflects the traditional practice of adding the b7 note and/or other tensions in bar 4, to make the I chord sound more like a V of IV. Again, this is a device often used in solos.
• The Fm6 in measure 5 might seem odd, but taken with the indicated bass note, it becomes Bb9.
• The G7 in measure 9 seems a bit unusual. Could it be a simple mistake, that should have read Gm7? See comment on bars 9-10 of the melody, above.
• No turnaround in the last 2 bars (the recording does this also). Many current published versions mistakenly assume a turnaround here.
So, what is the definitive, "correct" version of "Billie's Bounce" (or "Bill's," or "Billy's")? If you play the melody as it appears in the original manuscript, most musicians will say it's wrong. Even if you play as in the recording, it will not be what most musicians expect. Your best bet is probably to play the version that's in the Charlie Parker Omnibook, though it matches neither the original manuscript, nor the original recording. Common practice has kind of sanctified that one.
For more on this tune, and an analysis of Parker's solo on his original recording, see this post. Check the comment at the bottom of the post, from Mark Voelpel, author of The Best of Charlie Parker.
The article by Henry Martin in "Music Theory Online" that occasioned this post is here.
Martin has recently published Charlie Parker, Composer (Oxford University Press), a discussion and analysis of all of Charlie Parker's composed melodies. It's great read if you are into Parker scholarship.
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