Testimony
Premiére: 16 January 2002, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House for Sydney Festival 2002
Composer: Sandy Evans
Libretto: Yusef Komunyakaa
Musical theatre direction: by Nigel Jamieson
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.
This moving testimony to Parker’s genius is a milestone in Australian music theatre.
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.
Testimony was an initiative of Sydney Festival and Sydney Opera House in association with the Melbourne Festival
Musical Director’s Notes
Charlie Parker’s contribution to the art and culture of the 20th century must be compared to that of Stravinsky, Picasso or Joyce. A protean modernist, his improvisations encrypt the entire known Western musical syntax of his time into a language in which the commonplace is elevated to the same status as the arcane, the whimsical plays freely with the mordant, in which the barline disappears, literally blown out of the way by a force which lives only as pulse, the same clock that drives life itself. Imitated by many, rivalled by few, his colossal domination of the be-bop form becomes clear when that form is compared to what succeeded it, namely the classicizing structures of hard bop, in which the freedom of Bird’s legacy was replaced by paradigms of harmonic, rhythmic and melodic behaviour. Not until Ornette Coleman’s toy horn blew into the Half Note Club in 1959 would jazz feel the hot wind of freedom again.
It is in recognizing this freedom which lies at the heart of jazz that we come again and again to Parker’s legacy. The philosophy which underlies the AAO is one which recognises the validity of the spontaneous utterance as the essential creative moment in art, arising out of an artist’s personal agon with the materials and influences which form the artistic personality. Parker was able to give form and eloquence to this moment like no other, his soaring melodies the result of infinite computations and decisions made at the speed of thought, performed on instruments much more awkward to play than the balanced-action saxophones of today, horns often held together with rubber bands and chewing gum.
We also recognise the status of Bird as yet another casualty in the racial war which surrounds this music. Dead at 35, Parker took on the status of redeemer and sacrificial lamb in a milieu which claimed the lives of many way too soon: Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Booker Little, even John Coltrane. In our nation, which is paving a road into the future scarred with the potholes of racial intolerance, this tale can be seen as metaphorical.
This tragedy is unveiled subtly and sweetly in Yusef Komunaaka’s verses, and set gorgeously, wittily and wisely by Sandy Evans. As inheritors in some way of Parker’s bequest, each of us has a personal tribute to pay, and within the structures of Sandy’s scores is the space to allow for those personal testimonials to occur. We want to create a space of reflection, a ritual, a theatre in which this process can be shared, hence we have invited our friends Nigel Jamieson and Dan Potra to help us realize this tribute.
– Paul Grabowsky
Composer's notes
In 1995, Christopher Williams approached me and Yusef Komunyakaa about collaborating on a music theatre project for radio that had jazz as its central musical language. This led to the commissioning of Testimony by the ABC with assistance from the Australia Council. It was first broadcast on Soundstage on ABC Classic FM in August 1999. Testimony consists of 14 sonnets written by Yusef about the life and music of Charlie Parker, that I have set to music. You will also hear several Charlie Parker tunes arranged for the Australian Art Orchestra.
I remember the exhilaration I felt when I first heard a recording of Charlie Parker. The energy, virtuosity, passion, innovation, spontaneity, intelligence and sheer beauty of his playing remain to this day an artistic pinnacle that I will never come close to reaching, but for which I am constantly striving.
In writing the music for Testimony I have been challenged and inspired not only by the life and music of Bird and his contemporaries, but also by the extraordinary way in which Yusef has told Bird’s story. The power of his words and the rhythmic and melodic structure of his text led naturally to the song forms that I have chosen for each piece. The singers who appear in this performance showcase the diversity and excellence of vocal talent in Australia. It has been thrilling for me to write for such a wonderful variety of strong, individual voices. Some of the poems seemed to work better in their spoken form and are narrated here by the talented and sensitive Bobby C.
I was delighted when the Australian Art Orchestra, a group overflowing with brilliant soloists and original thinkers, expressed interest in performing Testimony.
The development of the piece from a radio show to a live performance has been a most exciting one. Given the nature of the work, the AAO decided to ask Nigel Jamieson to direct the live performance. Nigel has brought together a very accomplished creative team to realise his imaginative visual and theatrical concepts in a way that is supportive to the music and highlights the drama of the narrative.
– Sandy Evans
Guest Vocalists
- Toni Allayialis
- Dan Barnett
- Kristen Cornwell
- Lily Dior
- Tina Harrod
- Joe 'Bebop' Lane
- Michele Morgan
- Jackie Orszaczky
- Shelley Scown
- Tanya Sparke
- Kate Swadling
Press for Testimony
- "Swinging in Bird's Paradise"
- The Australian (Lynden Barber), 11.01.02
- "Excellent"
- RealTime, Keith Gallasch
- "Soaring tribute to jazzman Bird"
- The Australian (Hilary Shrubb), 18.01.02
- "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, 9.01.02
- "Tribute to a genius"
- The Advertiser (Patrick McDonald), 10.06.2003
