32-Bar Compositions with A Section or Partial A Section

Parker composed many works in which sections are designated by a chord progression only; the player was expected to improvise the melodic material, and these pieces are discussed in Chapter 7. For AABA compositions, for example, Parker might leave the B section open for improvisation. “Scrapple from the AppIe” is one such well-known work. In some cases, such as “Constellation,” much of the A section is improvisational as well. There are seventeen works with just an A section or partial A section, sixteen of them recorded, with one piece (“Ballade”) co-composed with Coleman Hawkins. Parker’s two contrapuntal pieces (“Chasin’ the Bird” and “Ah-Leu-Cha”) are among this group as well.