BWW Interview: With CHARLIE PARKER'S YARDBIRD, Tenor Lawrence Brownlee Goes from Bel Canto to Bebop
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who's justly acclaimed for his high notes--forget about a high C; how about an F above that!?--just finished the New York premiere of the Daniel Schnyder opera CHARLIE PARKER'S YARDBIRD (Bridgette A. Wmberly, librettist), at the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Famed jazz saxophonist Charlie (Bird) Parker is a role that was written expressly for him--but that doesn't mean it was without its ch…