Mike Parker

This CD released for the first time the soundtrack of two of Charlie Parker's appearances on television. Some of the music and talking is trivial and loose but a few of the performances are quite unique and Bird is heard with a variety of intriguing groups. From 1949 Parker plays a fine version of "Lover" and helps trumpeter Shorty Sherock on "I Can't Get Started" but is drowned out by Sidney Bechet on an uptempo blues. From 1952 Bird gets featured on "Anthropology" and participates in a "Bop vs. Dixieland" blues with trumpeters Max Kaminsky and Miles Davis, trombonists Kai Winding and Will Bradley and clarinetist Joe Marsala; everyone gets to solo. This interesting CD concludes with Bird in fine form in 1954 with a quintet that also includes trumpeter Herb Pomeroy, material not available elsewhere.

The prolific veteran continues to cover a lot of musical territory on an album that resonates with the sound of his glory years of the mid-to-late 1970s. On the first two songs, Parker recalls his breakthrough with Dylanesque phrasing on "I Discovered America" before flashing forward to the current state of British pop celebrity on "England's Greatest Clown." There's his trademark sardonicism in the socially-conscious singalongs of "Ambiguous" and "Stick to the Plan," while other highlights include songs of resilience ("Suspension Bridge," "Hard Side of the Rain") and redemption ("Somebody Saved Me"). At almost eight-and-a-half minutes, "The Other Side of the Reservoir" is epic by Parker's standards, as he follows Van Morrison into the mystic. The closing "All Being Well" could pass as a traditional Irish benediction. With arrangements largely built around Parker's acoustic guitar, the predominantly midtempo material doesn't rock as hard as Parker has, but the hooks sink deep into the soul.

The historic live Town Hall sessions by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker from 1945 have been discovered on an acetate pressing, and are transferred with digital enhancement to CD. Why this concert was not issued initially is understandable, but Ira Gitler's informative and insightful liner notes suggest they likely were misplaced. What Gitler's essential writing also reveals is that these dates were approximate by only weeks to the original studio recordings of these classics, and there was no small amount of controversy surrounding this revolutionary bebop. Clearly bop was a vehicle for intricate melodic invention followed by lengthy soloing, aspects of which Parker with Gillespie were perfectly suited for…

Bunny Brunel is best-known as a virtuosic electric bassist who is featured in high-quality fusion settings. This particular recording is quite a bit different for Brunel is heard exclusively on acoustic bass, performing advanced jazz standards including pieces by Wayne Shorter, Steve Swallow, and Herbie Hancock along with two of the bassist's originals, "Stella by Starlight," Charlie Parker's "Relaxin' at Camarillo," and "Someday My Prince Will Come." Guitarist Mike Stern has plenty of solos, pianist Billy Childs gets in his spots, and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta is fine in support, but Brunel clearly controls the music. On the concluding "Twelve Bars for Leberstraum," Chick Corea guests on piano.