David: One of the first people who ever spoke to me of orchestral color was Charlie Parker, in 1952, in my basement apartment in Washington, DC. Parker asked me if I had ever checked out the music of Frederick Delius.
I said, "Bird, we were always told Delius was a minor composer," because in those days, there was a lot lacking in American music studies, and most music teachers referred to Delius that way.
Bird said, "Check out his orchestration. Frederick Delius was a great orchestral colorist."
Bill: But what does that mean?
David: Orchestral colors and the art of orchestration is like taking a series of black and white illustrations and filling them in with colors. In symphonic music, those black and white images are the actual notes played; how and who plays them is what you do when you orchestrate something. A composition is like a great painting in that it has contrast, form, takes you to places you’ve never been before, and keeps you wanting more.
Bill: What was Charlie Parker like?
David: Charlie Parker had brilliance and sophistication that the movie Bird didn’t capture. He was very knowledgeable and he was a lifetime student of 'hang-out-ology', always learning, open-minded, so he didn’t rank Delius as a "minor" or "major" musician. He heard the music of Delius for what it was. I talk about this is my book Vibrations .
Bill: Your song about Hunter S. Thompson, on the Southern Stories CD, is perfect. It captures Thompson’s life story so simply and yet, so completely. Did you ever meet Hunter?
