Bird is a 1988 American film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood.
The film is a biopic, a tribute to the life and music of jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker, written by Joel Oliansky. It is constructed as a collage of scenes from Parker’s life, from his childhood in Kansas City, through his marriage to Chan Richardson, to his early death at the age of thirty-four.
Music
Initially, when Columbia owned the project, the studio executives wanted to hire musicians to re-record all of Parker’s music, largely because most of the original recordings were in mono, and considered of insufficient sound quality to accompany a feature film. Eastwood had some recordings of Parker made by Parker’s wife, Chan, from which he had a sound engineer electronically isolate Parker’s solos. Contemporary musicians such as Ray Brown, Walter Davis, Jr., Ron Carter, Barry Harris and Red Rodney were then hired to record backing tracks on modern sound equipment. Dizzy Gillespie was on tour at the time of recording, so trumpet player Jon Faddis was hired to record his parts.
Cast
- Forest Whitaker — Charlie “Bird” Parker
- Diane Venora — Chan Parker
- Michael Zelniker — Red Rodney
- Samuel E. Wright — Dizzy Gillespie
- Keith David — Buster Franklin
- Michael McGuire — Brewster
- James Handy — Esteves
- Damon Whitaker — Young Bird
- Morgan Nagler — Kim
- Arlen Dean Snyder — Dr Heath
- Sam Robards — Moscowitz
- Penelope Windust — Bellevue Nurse
- Glenn Wright — Alcoholic Patient (as Glenn T. Wright)
- George Orrison — Patient with Checkers
- Bill Cobbs — Dr Caulfield