Charlie Parker, music · First recorded in Glendale, California, by a small group led by Dizzy Gillespie for Dial
Confirmation
Confirmation is a Charlie Parker tune with a 32-bar AABA form and a quick chain of ii–V chords. Players come back to it for its bright, singing melody and the test of its quick chord changes. You will hear it on records by Parker, Gillespie, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, Sonny Stitt and Jackie McLean.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Charlie Parker Quartet✓
- 2 Hear the first recording Dizzy Gillespie Jazzmen✓
- 3 Hear Parker live Charlie Parker Quintet✓
- 4 Hear it on piano Bud Powell Trio✓
- 5 Hear an alto player's tribute Sonny Stitt✓
- 6 Hear a hard bop sextet Jackie McLean Sextet✓
- 7 Hear it on guitar Boulou Ferré✓
- 8 Hear a recent version Ethan Iverson✓
How the tune works
Thirty-two bars in four sections of eight: A A B A. Each A opens on Fmaj7 and drops through a chain of quick ii–V chords: Em7♭5 A7, Dm7 G7, then Cm7 F7. Bar 5 restarts the chain from the IV chord, B♭7, and runs through Am7 D7 and a G chord to C7 and home. The first A turns around into the second A, and the second and last A end on Fmaj7. The bridge sits on B♭ for four bars (Cm7 F7, then B♭maj7), steps to D♭ for three (E♭m7 A♭7, then D♭maj7) and returns to F with Gm7 C7.
The changes under Michael Brecker's tenor solo from Chick Corea's Three Quartets sessions (1981, first issued on the 1992 CD), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Published sheets differ in bars 5, 6 and 8 of the A sections.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Parker's 1953 studio record and Dizzy Gillespie's 1946 first recording, then goes live with Parker's 1949 quintet. It moves through a piano trio, an alto saxophone tribute, a hard bop sextet and a guitar quartet, and ends with a 2016 piano trio.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Charlie Parker Quartet 1953
Charlie Parker
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- Listen for
- A four-piece band: Parker's alto saxophone with Al Haig on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Max Roach on drums. The master take runs 2:58, short enough to replay several times while following the chart.
- Try this
- Play the first A section from the chart, eight bars with one or two chords each, at a slow tempo, then along with the record. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
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Step 2 · Hear the first recording Now playing
Dizzy Gillespie Jazzmen (issued as Tempo Jazz Men) 1946
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- Listen for
- Listen for the sextet's instruments: Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet, Lucky Thompson's tenor saxophone and Milt Jackson's vibraphone, with Al Haig on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Stan Levey on drums.
- Try this
- Play bars 1 to 4 of the chart (Fmaj7, Em7♭5 A7, Dm7 G7, Cm7 F7) four times in a row with the record. Smaller version: play only the roots F, E, A, D, G, C, F.
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Step 3 · Hear Parker live Now playing
Charlie Parker Quintet 1949
“Confirmation (Live At The Royal Roost)”, Bird at the Roost: The Savoy Sessions
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- Listen for
- A trumpet and an alto saxophone share the front line, Kenny Dorham and Parker, over Al Haig's piano, Tommy Potter's bass and Max Roach's drums. The linked track runs 3:34.
- Try this
- Play the bridge from the chart slowly: Cm7 F7, B♭maj7 for two bars, E♭m7, A♭7, D♭maj7, then Gm7 C7 back to F. Then play it with the record. Smaller version: play only the roots.
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Step 4 · Hear it on piano Now playing
Bud Powell Trio 1955
The Lonely One...
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- Listen for
- A piano trio with no horns, so Powell plays the tune himself with George Duvivier on bass and Art Taylor on drums. The track runs 4:21.
- Try this
- Play the whole 32-bar chart on piano or guitar, one or two chords per bar, at a slow tempo. Smaller version: play only the first A section, eight bars.
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Step 5 · Hear an alto player's tribute Now playing
Sonny Stitt 1963
Stitt Plays Bird
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- Listen for
- An alto saxophone lead with a guitar and a piano in the rhythm section, Jim Hall and John Lewis, plus Richard Davis on bass and Connie Kay on drums. The track runs 4:34 on Apple Music.
- Try this
- Play the first A section on guitar or piano with the record, then the bridge. Smaller version: play only the bridge, Cm7 F7 to B♭maj7 and E♭m7 A♭7 to D♭maj7.
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Step 6 · Hear a hard bop sextet Now playing
Jackie McLean Sextet 1956
4, 5 and 6
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- Listen for
- Three horns, McLean's alto saxophone, Donald Byrd's trumpet and Hank Mobley's tenor saxophone, over Mal Waldron's piano, Doug Watkins's bass and Arthur Taylor's drums. The track runs 11:22.
- Try this
- Count the 32-bar form along with the record, saying A, A, B, A for each chorus. Smaller version: count only the bridge each time it comes round.
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Step 7 · Hear it on guitar Now playing
Boulou Ferré 1986
Confirmation
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- Listen for
- The tune on guitar: Boulou Ferré leads, with Elios Ferré, Jesper Lundgaard on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums behind him. The track runs 9:20.
- Try this
- Play the first A section on guitar at a slow tempo, one or two chords per bar as in the chart, then try it with the record. Smaller version: strum only bars 1 to 4.
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Step 8 · Hear a recent version Now playing
Ethan Iverson 2016
The Purity of the Turf
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- Listen for
- A piano trio of Iverson, Ron Carter on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums. The track runs 6:16.
- Try this
- Play Bud Powell's 1955 trio first, then this track, and follow the whole chart with each, one line of four bars at a time, saying A, A, B, A as the sections change. Smaller version: follow only the bridge.
More great versions
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Dizzy Gillespie Quintet with Charlie Parker 1947
“Confirmation (Live At Carnegie Hall, 1947)”, Diz 'N' Bird In Concert
The earliest live recording of Parker playing Confirmation, from the Carnegie Hall concert of September 29, 1947, where he plays in Dizzy Gillespie's quintet.
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The Max Roach 4 1957
The Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker
Max Roach's quartet records Confirmation for the album The Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker on December 23, 1957, with Kenny Dorham on trumpet and Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone.
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Jimmy Smith 1958
Confirmation
Jimmy Smith leads on organ, with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone, Tina Brooks on tenor saxophone, Kenny Burrell on guitar and Art Blakey on drums, recorded on February 25, 1958.
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The Oscar Peterson Trio 1961
“Confirmation (Live At The London House, Chicago, 1961)”, The London House Sessions
A live set from the London House in Chicago on August 3, 1961, by Oscar Peterson's trio with Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums.
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Chick Corea 1981
“Confirmation (Album Version)”, Three Quartets
Michael Brecker's tenor saxophone solo on this track is the source of the chart on this page.