CD1
1. Star Eyes
2. Blues
3. I’m In The Mood For Love
Charlie Parker Quartet
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Hank Jones - Piano
Ray Brown - Bass
Buddy Rich - Drums
4. Lament For Conga
5. Mambo Fortunato
Charlie Parker With Machito And His Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Howard McGhee, Mario Bauza, Frank“Paquito”Davilla, Bob Woodlen - Trumpets
Gene Johnson, Fred Skerritt, Jose Madera, Frank Sokolow, Leslie Johnakins - Saxophones
René Hernandez - Piano
Roberto Rodriguez - Bass
Jose Mangual - Bongo
Luis Mirada - Conga
Umbaldo Nieto - Timbales
Frank “Machito” Grillo - Maracas
6. Bloomdido
7. An Oscar From Treadwell
8. An Oscar From Treadwell
9. Mohawk
10. Mohawk
11. My Melancholy Baby
12. Leap Frog
13. Leap Frog
14. Leap Frog
15. Relaxin’ With Lee
16. Relaxin’ With Lee
Charlie Parker And His Orchestra
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Dizzy Gillespie - Trumpet
Thelonious Monk - Piano
Curley Russell - Bass
Buddy Rich - Drums
17. I Can’t Get Started
Charlie Parker Quartet
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Bernie Leighton - Piano
Ray Brown - Bass
Buddy Rich - Drums
CD2
1. 52nd Street Theme
2. Annonce
3. Just Friends I
4. Annonce
5. April In Paris I
6. A Night In Tunisia
7. 52nd Street Theme
8. Annonce
9. Just Friends II
10. Annonce
11. April In Paris II
12. Medley I Bewitched/Summertime
13. Medley II I Cover The Waterfront/Gone With The Wind
14. Easy To Love
15. Medley III What’s New/It’s The Talk Of The Town
16. Moose The Moche/52nd Street Theme
Charlei Parker Quintet
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Kenny Dorham - Trumpet
Al Haig - Piano
Tommy Potter - Bass
Roy Haynes - Drums
Tony Scott - Clarinet ( track 16 only)
17. Lover Come Back To Me
18. 52nd Street Theme
Charlie Parker With The Tony Scott Quartet
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Tony Scott - Clarinet
Brew Moore - Tenor saxophone
Dick Hyman - Piano
Leonard Gaskin - Bass
Irv Kluger - Drums
CD3
1. Dancing In The Dark
2. Out Of Nowhere
3. Laura
4. East Of The Sun
5. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
6. Easy To Love
7. I’m In The Mood For Love
8. I’m In The Mood For Love
9. I’ll Remember April
Charlie Parker With Strings
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Joseph Singer - French horn
Edwin Brown - Oboe
Sam Caplan, Howard Kay, Sam Rand, Harry Melnikoff, Zelly Smirnoff - Violins
Isadore Zir - Viola
Maurice Brown - Cello
Verley Mills - Harp
Bernie Leighton - Piano
Ray Brown - Bass
Buddy Rich - Drums
10. Annonce/Repetition
11. What Is This Thing Called Love
12. Annonce/Easy To Love
13. Repetition
14. April In Paris
15. Easy To Love
16. What Is This Thing Called Love
17. What Is This Thing Called Love
Charlie Parker With Strings
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Tommy Mace - Oboe
Sammy Caplan, Al Feller, Stan Kraft - Violins
Dave Uchitel - Viola
Bill Bundy - Cello
Wallace McManus - Harp
Al Haig - Piano
Tommy Potter - Bass
Roy Haynes - Drums
18. What Is This Thing Called Love
19. April In Paris
20. Repetition
21. Easy To Love
22. Rocker
Charlie Parker With Strings
Charlie Parker - Alto saxophone
Tommy Mace - Oboe
Sam Caplan, Stan Karpenia, Teddy Blume - Violins
Dave Uchitel - Viola
Bill Bundy - Cello
Wallace McManus - Harp
Al Haig - Piano
Tommy Potter - Bass
Roy Haynes - Drums
Charlie Parker died on March 12, 1955. It is almost beyond belief that in the early years of the 21st century, that Charlie Parker continues to occupy such
a prominent place the conscience of jazz aficionados. So much so, that earlier recorded material continues to be re-issued from a wide variety of original
sources. Astoundingly, there were over 175 re-issues of Charlie Parker recordings in 2014. This intriguing combination from 1950 forms this 3 cd set issued
by the French label Frémeaux & Associés.
By 1950, Charlie Parker’s saxophone style and his extraordinary command of his horn were fully formed and in many ways his fans had built a veneration for
his music. His personal life, however, was a mess as he was increasingly dependent upon heroin and alcohol. This spilled over to his professional life as
he exhibited eccentric behaviour on the bandstand, he missed club dates, and when he did show up, he was often late. Nevertheless he recorded prodigiously,
in a variety of groups and formats whether with strings, big bands, or smaller configurations. Basically anything to keep the dollars flowing to feed his
habits. Accordingly, not everything he recorded was top quality, and there is evidence of that in these sides.
CD1
The most interesting aspect of this CD is the sextet recording that has, in addition to Parker, Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Thelonious Monk on piano and
Buddy Rich on drums. The latter name is unusual as Rich was never thought to be a bebop style drummer, and all the tunes save one, are by Parker and are
bebop structured pieces. Consequently his efforts are somewhat out of sync with what was required to support the band. Additionally, at this time,
Thelonious Monk was just an unknown pianist who was still a long way from developing his unique piano technique. No matter, because Monk’s piano is kept in
the background, offering supporting comping to the key players, Bird and Diz. Nevertheless, the session is still unique as it was the last time that Bird
and Diz recorded together in a studio, and the only occasion that they recorded with Monk. As for their efforts, they both were first rate with Dizzy in
his usual flamboyant mode and Parker in complete control of his instrument. Bloomdido is a blues that ricochets back and forth between Bird and
Diz with strong solos from each with Diz on muted horn. An Oscar For Treadwell is based on the chord changes from I Got Rhythm as is Leap Frog. Both are simple lines that are frames for the front line to work out solo time which they do with exuberance. Despite some minor
drawbacks, it is still a sparkling session.
CD2
Suffice it to say that this cd is mostly a disappointment on several fronts. Firstly, the sound quality is quite bad as it originated as a radio broadcast
from Café Society which was privately recorded and no amount of engineering could enhance it. Secondly, while the band that Parker lead for this engagement
was his working outfit, they did not sound in top form for this particular session apart from a couple of tracks. One of those was A Night In Tunisia written by Dizzy Gillespie which has an opening that features two trumpeters. The liner notes has Kenny Dorham on trumpet, but
some discographies also show Red Rodney participating and that appears to be the case here. The two players dominate the offering with Parker only coming
in for a few bars at the end.
The most interesting tracks of the Café Society sessions are Moose The Mooche where clarinetist Tony Scott joins the Parker band and Lover Come Back To Me where Parker joins the Tony Scott Quartet. Scott was a bop-oriented clarinetist with a very distinctive playing style that
featured dissonant note selection using the instrument’s upper register. Although he was a facile improvisor, he was an acquired taste and had limited
acceptance among the jazz listening community. Nevertheless he and Parker seems to find a musical accommodation and these two tracks provide some
worthwhile improvisations by both players.
Finally a brief word about the venue for these sessions, Café Society New York City. Founded by Barney Josepheson at the end of 1938, it was the first
integrated night club in the city. As a result, it became a gathering spot for jazz-lovers, artists and intellectuals. With the club’s policy of hiring
entertainers regardless of colour, it helped foster the careers of Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Teddy Wilson, Charlie Parker, and Alberta Hunter among
others.
CD3
This cd is entirely Charlie Parker with strings. One section is a studio recording, and the other two are live recordings, one of which comes from the
Apollo Theatre with somewhat iffy sound, and the other from Carnegie Hall with slightly better sound, but only just. The studio session picks up from
Parker’s 1949 recording with strings that had Mitch Miller on oboe and featured Parker’s version of Just Friends which caught on with the general
record-buying public and thus made money for Mercury Records. Believing they had a good thing on their hands, the label did another session in 1950, but
with without Miller on oboe. Although this album did not generate the sales of the previous issue, Parker’s alto playing shone though the soupy strings
with stellar versions of Dancing In The Dark, Laura East Of The Sun and I’ll Remember April.
In an effort to capitalize on the studio recordings, Parker fronted a string section for a couple live outings. Although Parker’s own efforts were
reasonably well-recorded, the string section shared a single microphone and thus were reduced to somewhat mushy sound. The tune selection for these live
performances was almost identical to the studio recordings. Hence Parker’s improvisations mirrored those of the studio sessions, since the strings needed
to adhere to the written arrangements and Parker’s solo space was governed by this constraint. There are a couple of exceptions, namely Neil Hefti’s Repetition and Gerry Mulligan’s Rocker. Since both these compositions did not have a popular song structure, Parker took advantage of
this and his improvisations were more reflective of jazz sensibilities.
There are some nice bits and bobs in this box set, but only for diehard Charlie Parker aficionados.
Pierre Giroux
CD Reviews
Frémeaux & Associés FA 1338
