Charlie Parker, music · First recorded for Savoy in New York
Now's the Time
Now's the Time is a riff blues in F that Charlie Parker first recorded in November 1945. Players like it because the riff is short and the 12-bar blues form is easy to hear. You will hear it on records by Parker, Blakey and Rollins, and its riff lives on in The Hucklebuck.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers✓
- 2 Hear a later take Charlie Parker Quartet✓
- 3 Hear the riff in a dance hit Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers✓
- 4 Hear it sung Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims✓
- 5 Hear it at hard bop length Art Blakey Quintet✓
- 6 Hear the chords on one instrument Joe Pass✓
- 7 Hear a piano trio Oscar Peterson Trio✓
- 8 Hear it today Roy Haynes✓
How the tune works
Twelve bars, repeated for every chorus. Bars 1 to 4 sit on F7, with a visit to B♭7 in bar 2. Bars 5 and 6 move to B♭7 and a B diminished chord, and bar 7 returns to F7. Bar 8 holds Am7 and D7, which lead into Gm7 in bar 9. Bars 9 to 12 run Gm7, C7, F7 with D7♭9, and Gm7 with C7, which brings the form back to the top.
The changes on a published lead sheet from Jazzadvice, headed F Blues. The sheet says blues changes have many variations and offers these as a starting point.
Checked against the Jazzadvice C-instrument lead sheet. Parker's 1945 record may differ in places.
Source: Jazzadvice: Now's The Time (F Blues), chord chart for C instruments
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗You hear Parker's 1945 original and his 1953 quartet take first, then the dance record built on the same riff, then a sung version. After that come a long hard bop set, solo guitar, a piano trio and a 2001 quintet.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers 1945
Billie's Bounce / Now's the Time
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hear the head first, then the solos by Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Count the 12 bars of each chorus so you can feel where the form starts again.
- Try this
- Play the F blues chords from the chart behind the record, one chord per bar. If that is too much, play only the root of each chord on beat 1.
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Step 2 · Hear a later take Now playing
Charlie Parker Quartet 1953
Charlie Parker
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Compare Parker's playing here with the 1945 take. This is a quartet with no second horn, so you hear his alto sax against piano, bass and drums.
- Try this
- Play the chart's 12 bars behind this record, one chord per bar. Then add the three bars with two chords (bars 8, 11 and 12) as written.
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Step 3 · Hear the riff in a dance hit Now playing
Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers 1948
“The Huckle-Buck”, The Huckle-Buck / Hoppin' John
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Listen for the resemblance to the 1945 head, then count the 12 bars as the form repeats.
- Try this
- Sing along with the 1945 record, then sing along with this one. Note which parts stay the same.
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Step 4 · Hear it sung Now playing
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims 1959
The Swingers!
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hear three singers and a tenor sax over piano, guitar, bass and drums. Compare the sung lines with the horn lines on the 1945 record.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chords and sing the head you know from the 1945 record. Smaller version: hum it along with the record.
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Step 5 · Hear it at hard bop length Now playing
Art Blakey Quintet 1954
A Night at Birdland, Vol. 3
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Listen to the horns and the piano in turn, and count the 12-bar choruses each player takes. At nine minutes, the form comes around many times.
- Try this
- Play along with the chart for one chorus, then rest for one chorus and listen. Repeat. Smaller version: say the chord names out loud as each bar goes by.
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Step 6 · Hear the chords on one instrument Now playing
Joe Pass 1973
Virtuoso No. 4
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Pass plays alone, so you hear the melody, the chords and a bass line from one guitar. Follow the chords against the chart.
- Try this
- Play the chart's 12 bars on guitar or piano, with the root on beat 1 and the chord on beat 3 of each bar. Smaller version: one chord per bar.
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Step 7 · Hear a piano trio Now playing
Oscar Peterson Trio 1962
Night Train
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hear a piano trio play the 12 bars in two and a half minutes. Listen to how Ray Brown's bass and Ed Thigpen's drums keep the time under Peterson's piano.
- Try this
- Play the chart on piano with the root in your left hand and the chord in your right, one chord per bar. Then try the chord on beats 2 and 4 only.
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Step 8 · Hear it today Now playing
Roy Haynes 2001
Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hear a modern quintet stretch the tune to six minutes. Follow the trumpet and alto sax solos, and listen to Haynes's drums behind them.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chord roots behind one chorus of a solo. If that is easy, add the full chords. If the tempo is too fast, play the first four bars and stop.
More great versions
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Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers 1945
“Now's the Time (new take 3)”, The Charlie Parker Story
The alternate take 3 from the same session, released later than the issued take 4.
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Charlie Parker Quintet 1950
Bird at St. Nick's
A live set from St.
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Charlie Parker 1953
“Now's the Time (live at the Storyville Club)”, Charlie Parker at Storyville
A radio broadcast from Boston with a local trumpeter, Herb Pomeroy, and Kenny Clarke on drums.
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Sonny Stitt 1963
Stitt Plays Bird
Sonny Stitt plays alto sax on this tribute album to Parker, with John Lewis on piano and Jim Hall on guitar.
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Sonny Rollins 1964
Now's the Time!
Sonny Rollins's quartet recorded the tune in February 1964 for the RCA album that took its title.
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Eddie Jefferson 1968
Body and Soul
Eddie Jefferson sings his own words to the tune on Body and Soul.