Dan the Automator, System of a Down's Serj Tankian and Me'Shell Ndegeocello are among the artists who are tweaking the music of legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker for Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project, due October 21st on Savoy Records.

The Automator, who is more accustomed to tinkering with artists like Beck and Air, takes on a pair of Parker originals, "Perhaps" and "Steeplechase." "It's like coming full-circle," he says. "I get to re-interpret music that inspired me when I was starting to make tracks, so as maybe to inspire others. I hope, too, that maybe these remix records might introduce Charlie Parker to a new audience."

Producer Matthew Backer masterminded the twelve-track album, reaching out to an eclectic array of artists and encouraging each to use the original songs from the early era of Parker's career (1944-1948) as a starting point.

"Charlie Parker is godlike," Backer says. "The idea was to create a new revolution in honor of the original revolution, which gave birth to many of these people -- even though some may not have known it before they were offered this opportunity."

Bird Up track listing:

"Now's the Time (No Time Like Now)," Red Hawk (featuring Deke Damascus)
"Relaxin' at Camarillo (August 29)," Me'shell Ndegeocello
"Salt Peanuts (The Mr. Peanut Chronicles)," Hal Willner and Mocean Worker (featuring the Kronos Quartet and Dr. John)
"Bird of Paradise (Gone)," Serj Tankian
"Congo Blues (Silencer)," Donk (featuring Ravi Coltrane and Wild Children)
"Steeplechase (Sittin' on 22's)," Dan the Automator
"Cheers (X-ecutioners Style)," Rob Swift (featuring the X-ecutioners)
"A Night in Tunisia (Downpour)," Donk (featuring Donk & the Coconut Tree and Kodo)
"Shadows of Nuff," Hal Willner and Mocean Worker
"Perhaps (Someday the Roof Will Get Fixed)," Dan the Automator
"Barbados (Where Fish Fly)," Matthew Backer for the Alien Among (featuring Hubert Laws and Redback)
"Constellation" El-P

COLIN DEVENISH
(July 28, 2003)