Yes, that’s ‘Bird’, singular, not ‘birds’. Because while ornithology is the study of birds, “Ornithology” is a song by Charlie Parker, a.k.a. “Bird”. Parker – along with trumpeter Benny Harris – wrote the tune as a contrafact, meaning that they deliberately took the chord progression from an existing song and composed a new melody to fit over it. (Parker used this technique for several of his original compositions, and in fact there are innumerable jazz standards written over “rhythm changes” – the chord changes from Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm.”) In this case, they stole the chord changes from “How High The Moon”, a song written for a Broadway revue in 1940 which quickly became a pop hit and a jazz standard. Parker first recorded “Ornithology” with his septet in a studio in Hollywood, CA, on March 28, 1946.

Probably the finest recording of “How High The Moon” is taken from a live performance given by Ella Fitzgerald in Berlin in 1960. She and the band start out at a “normal” tempo, but then something extraordinary happens: at 0:53, the drummer kicks it off again at double tempo. And rather than simply repeat the original lyrics, Ella improvises some new lyrics on the fly… and by her own admission doesn’t do a terribly good job, as she sings “Though the words may be wrong… to this song….”

Ella then takes the first solo beginning at 1:23, scatting (improvising with the use of nonsense syllables.) At 1:49, it all comes full circle, when she quotes the melody from “Ornithology” in her solo.

Have a wonderful day, Everyone!