Exhaustive 30 CD collection from the Jazz legend's short-lived label. Contains 44 original albums (421 tracks) plus booklet. Every record-collector has run across an album with the little sax-playing bird in it's label-logo, right next to the brand name Charlie Parker Records or CP Parker Records. Turning the sleeve over, especially if it was one of the non-Parker releases, and seeing a '60s release date under the header Stereo-pact! Was as exciting an experience as it was confusing. Was the claim Bird Lives meant more literally than previously thought?
After 24 years off the scene, pianist George Wallington surprised many who had forgotten by him by recording this solo CD, the first of three. Although all ten of the selections are Wallington originals, his boppish style was largely unchanged from the 1950s, and some of the tunes are based on the chord changes of more common standards. However, the melodies are fresh, Wallington's improvisations are full of joyful swing, and the overall results (available as a Japanese import through Denon) are quite appealing…
One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Fats Navarro had a tragically brief career yet his influence is still being felt. His fat sound combined aspects of Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie, became the main inspiration for Clifford Brown, and through Brownie greatly affected the tones and styles of Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw. Navarro originally played piano and tenor before switching to trumpet. He started gigging with dance bands when he was 17, was with Andy Kirk during 1943-1944, and replaced Dizzy Gillespie with the Billy Eckstine big band during 1945-1946. During the next three years, Fats was second to only Dizzy among bop trumpeters.
This 20-song compilation documents the early development of tenor Stan Getz from a Lester Young disciple into a unique and compelling voice. The set kicks off with three 1945 recordings from Kai Winding's sextet, when Getz, a mere 18 years old, still seemed to be under Young's spell. The four cuts from July 1946 mark Getz's first session as a leader; on one, he brought in bebop heavies Hank Jones, Curley Russell, and Max Roach. It's clear from his choice of sidemen and the increased fire in his playing that Getz was falling under the influence of Charlie Parker. The collection wends through three cuts featuring Getz with the Woody Herman Orchestra - two uptempos and an exquisite ballad, "Early Autumn," which offers supremely delicate solos from both Herman (on Johnny Hodges-inspired alto) and Getz…
Legendary work from Miles Davis – large group sessions that virtually define the "cool" in cool jazz! The work's quite different from Davis' earlier bop sides with Charlie Parker – and show a distinct influence from modernists like Gerry Mulligan (who is on the recordings) and from the experiments of the Tristano school. Miles is less the leader than the creative visionary – as all players come together in a perfect blend of sound, perfectly polished, and with a very dark edge.
Trumpeter Miles Davis was without doubt one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-war era, not only as a pioneer of the bebop movement but through being at the forefront of many stylistic and musical innovations over the years. His landmark debut album for Capitol “The Birth Of The Cool”, recorded during 1949 and 1950, became regarded as seminal in the history of cool jazz, exploring unusual harmonies and textures. This excellent-value 49-track 2-CD set comprises his studio recordings in small ensembles, in which he is the only trumpeter, from his studio debut in 1945 through to the end of 1948, just weeks before the first of the “Birth Of The Cool” sessions in January 1949.
Veteran Charlie Parker collectors generally know that they should avoid all but his most famous live sessions. It is not that Parker plays badly on this CD reissue (in fact his solo on "Confirmation" is quite miraculous) but, as is often the case with these privately recorded sets, the recording quality is horrible. Bird (with trumpeter Red Rodney, pianist Al Haig, bassist Tommy Potter, and drummer Roy Haynes) plays quite well but these versions only hint at what the music must have sounded like.