J e Parker

This second installment in the Classics Charlie Parker chronology contains quite a number of Bird's best-loved and most respected recordings. The first 12 tracks, recorded in New York for the Dial label in October and November of 1947, are all masterpieces of modern music, with the ballads, especially "Embraceable You," constituting some of Parker's very best recorded work. This is the classic 1947 quintet with Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach. Even if his personal life was characteristically chaotic, 1947 was a good year for Charlie Parker's music. It was in November 1947 that this band hit the road to play the El Sino Club on St. Antoine Boulevard in Detroit. Unfortunately, Bird got really snockered and couldn't perform, so the El Sino management canceled the gig. Bird ultimately destroyed his saxophone by throwing it out of a hotel window onto the street below. (A tragic and disturbing image!) Back in New York, the band – now a sextet with the addition of trombonist J.J. Johnson – made six more sides for Dial on December 17, 1947.

Whatever Norman Granz was using as a thinking man's energy drink in 1957 when he formulated this Jazz at the Philharmonic all-star band should be bottled and sold to the world. This stroke of genius was manifested in pairing Stan Getz with J.J. Johnson, backing them up with pianist Oscar Peterson's legendary trio including bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis, and adding MJQ drummer Connie Kay to this truly classic jazz sextet. Two JATP concerts done in Chicago (in stereo) and Los Angeles (in mono) comprise this expanded edition CD, with some stretched-out jams, repeat tunes, and extra material. Originally tabbed as an unusual teaming of tenor sax and trombone, the two principals sound well-suited, very compatible in their dynamic levels, and especially congruous when they play together, while Peterson is absolutely supportive so that these two giants of jazz can cut loose…

Charlie Parker - At The Open Door (1953) {2CD Set Ember Records EMBCD 508 rel 2000}
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© 1953, 2000 Ember Records / TKO Magnum Music | EMBCD 508
Jazz / Bebop / Bop / Alto Saxophone

On July 26, 1953, Charlie Parker performed at the Open Door, a club near Washington Square in New York's Greenwich Village, with trumpeter Benny Harris, pianists Bud Powell and Al Haig, bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Art Taylor. This was exactly when Jack Kerouac was hanging out at the Open Door, absorbing the sights and sounds and taking notes that would soon form the basis for his novel The Subterraneans. It is possible and even likely that Kerouac was in the audience while these recordings were being made. The aural ambience is literally shaped by the room, the cigarette smoke, the crowd, the intoxicants, and the primitive tape-recording apparatus used to capture these precious moments near the end of Charlie Parker's brief life.

Charlie Parker Records: The Complete Collection, Vol. 20 - Charlie Parker - Live At Rockland Palace (2012 CP Records 233193/20 rec 1952}
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© 1952, 2012 Charlie Parker Records / Membran Media / Documents | 233193 / 20
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

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?

Featuring prime Latin jazz cuts from the heyday of the mambo, Afro Cuban Jazz: 1947-1960 is really a better than average showcase for one of the music's best: Machito. In fact, this disc contains 13 sides by Machito & His Orchestra, including two bebop gems featuring Charlie Parker ("Mango Mangue," "No Noise, Pts. 1-2"). That's not to overlook the presence of one of the supreme champions of Latin jazz, Dizzy Gillespie ("Manteca"), Stan Kenton and his mathematically frenetic bongo jams, and J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding teaming up for a couple of classics. Truthfully, however, the real meat here is heard on such Machito dancefloor fillers as "Oyeme" and "Minor Rama." So, when you've got a jones for jazz in a mambo mood, this disc will provide the needed salve.

Charlie Parker - The Complete Dial Sessions (1993) {4CD Set, Stash Records ST-CD-567~70 rec 1946-1947}
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© 1946-47, 1993 Dial / Stash Records | ST-CD-567/68/69/70
Jazz / Bop / Big Band / Saxophone

Charlie Parker's historic Dial sessions have been reissued in a variety of ways over the years. This is especially true since the advent of the compact disc. These sessions not only capture Parker's alto brillance but highlight his interaction with such jazz stalwarts as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Max Roach, Erroll Garner, Howard McGhee and Dodo Marmarosa. This four-disc set is broken up into Hollywood Sessions 1: Moose the Mooche, Hollywood Sessions 2: Relaxin' at Camarillo, New York Sessions 1: Scrapple from the Apple, and New York Sessions 2: Drifting on a Reed. It's fortunate that these slices of jazz history are available allowing the listener to hear several takes of classics like "Moose the Mooch," "Relaxin at Camarillo," "Scrapple from the Apple," and "Ornithology" take shape. Sound quality on these Stash discs is good for the most part, fair but not great on others.

Leon Parker continues to be one of the true originals of the day. Though it's doubtful if his spare less-is-more approach to the drum kit will be widely influential-it's likely to remain his exclusive territory-Parker's effectiveness is certain to give pause to aspiring drummers who take note; and it's liable to give drum manufacturers the shakes along the way. Declaring himself solely a percussionist, Parker has shed the perceived encumbrances of the full drum kit. To shape and round his muse here he employs the additional percussion of Adam Cruz and regular bandmate Natalie Cushman, who join the leader at the heart of this date. They are surrounded by bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and on several tracks the saxophones of regular bandmate Steve Wilson, plus Steve Davis' trombone, and Tom Harrell's trumpet and fluegelhorn. Further percussive color is lent by berimbau, marimba, and steel pan.

Leo Parker - Let Me Tell You 'Bout It (1961) {Blue Note RVG 094631149122 rel 2005}
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© 1961, 2005 Blue Note / Capitol | 0946 3 11491 2 2 | RVG Edition
Jazz / Hard Bop / Baritone Saxophone

This session (reissued on CD) was a comeback record of sorts for Leo Parker. Briefly one of the leading bebop baritone saxophonists (and an alumnus of Billy Eckstine's legendary orchestra), Parker shifted to rhythm and blues in the early 1950's and then mostly dropped out of sight until he recorded this set. After cutting a second album, he died of a heart attack at age 36 on Feb. 11, 1962. A guttural player who emphasized the lower register of the baritone and was influenced by Illinois Jacquet, Parker (who is joined by obscure sidemen) sounds in top form during his varied program which includes several hard swingers, the gospellish funk of the title cut and two selections not on the original LP: "The Lion's Roar" and a second version of "Low Brown."