MARTIN SPEAKE’S CONSTELLATION THE MUSIC OF CHARLIE PARKER
Martin Speake alto saxophone, Mike Outram guitar
Simon Thorpe double bass, Dave Wickins drums

Tracklisting
01 Don't Blame Me (McHugh/Fields) 4:56
02 Star Eyes (de Paul/Raye) 6:32
03 Diverse (Parker) 7:26
04 Donna Lee (Parker) 2:34
05 Embrace Me (Speake) 5:20
06 I'm in the Mood for Love (McHugh/Fields) 5:58
07 Visa (Parker) 4:32
08 My Old Flame (Johnson/Coslow) 5:49
09 Crazeology/Serpents Tooth (Harris/Davis) 6:18
10 I Didn't Know What Time it was (Rogers/Hart) 6:01
11 The Hymn Revisited (Speake) 4:57
12 Yardbird (Speake) 2:53

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"British saxophonist Martin Speake, with the repertoire he's touring through the UK. For a talented modern altoist, Speake was a late convert to the full impact of bebop sax revolutionary Charlie Parker's music - and when its wider import recently staggered him, he decided that the best thing to do was not to cover the uncoverable but express his gratitude his own way.

This is often a delightful album, superbly played by Speake and guitar star Mike Outram and with imaginative bass-and-drums support from Simon Thorpe and Dave Wickins. Instead of opening with the usual headlong Parkeresque double-time, the album begins with almost abstract guitar-strumming and floating free-drumming to underpin Don't Blame Me. Donna Lee turns into a bristling improvised counterpoint for Speake and Outram, and Speake's restrained style brings the wispy subtleties of Parker's 1950s Cool School disciples back to the original materials.

An unaccompanied Speake improvisation on Yardbird, touching on Parker's phrases as if they were photos glimpsed while flicking through a scrapbook, is both a heartfelt and honourable finale". John Fordham, Friday May 6, 2005 Guardian