On October 3rd, 1952, Charlie Parker (Bird) wrote a letter to Leo Cluesmann, secretary of the American Federation of Musicians, replying to charges made by Dutch Neiman, manager of the Say When Club, a San Francisco nightclub at which Bird had performed in June. Given America’s recent acknowledgement of systemic racism, and the reappraisal of past events it demands, the fiasco at the Say When makes an interesting test case. Bird biographers Chuck Haddix and Brian Priestley both cover the events in question (Russell and Woideck do not), Down Beat wrote a contemporaneous article about them, and they are addressed in Neiman’s … Continue reading Weekly Posting, October 2nd, 2020

On September 26th, 1952, Charlie Parker (Bird) played a dance at Rockland Palace in Harlem, backed by Walter Bishop, piano, Teddy Kotick, bass, and Max Roach, drums. Guitarist Mundell Lowe filled the role of second horn, and, for better or worse, a small string section and a single oboist shared the stage, as well. The event was a benefit for city councilman Benjamin Davis, who, as secretary of the American Communist Party and an African-American, had been imprisoned for exercising his right to free speech. The ultimate goal was to get Davis released, but the event itself was simply a … Continue reading Weekly Posting, September 25th, 2020

On Saturday, September 17th, 1949, Charlie Parker (Bird) performed with Jazz at the Philharmonic at a midnight concert in Carnegie Hall, along with Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Roy Eldridge, Tommy Turk, Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, and Ella Fitzgerald. By this time, JATP had become a fixture on the jazz scene, a success in terms of popularity but waist-deep in a rut musically. Producer Norman Granz was a visionary, passionately committed to racial and economic equality in an era when such sentiments were cause for retribution. His support of Lester Young alone qualifies him as a hero, and he … Continue reading Weekly Posting, September 18th, 2020

On September 9th, 1949, Down Beat published an article about Charlie Parker (Bird), by staff writers John S. Wilson and Michael Levin, beneath a headline that screamed No Bop Roots in Jazz: Parker. This extraordinary article is somewhat problematic. It’s clear Levin and Wilson are paraphrasing information that came directly from Bird’s mouth, yet much of it is at odds with the received knowledge found in biographies. The writers state they conducted “a series of interviews that took two weeks”.  Under normal circumstances, it would take two weeks just to locate Bird. It’s likely, however, that Bird valued the opportunity to speak his … Continue reading Weekly Posting, September 11th, 2020

On Saturday night, September 4th, 1948, Charlie Parker (Bird) performed at the Royal Roost, on Broadway between 47th and 48th Street. The broadcast was recorded as an air check by Boris Rose, the legendary archivist who amassed thousands of such recordings, first using disc cutters and later transitioning to tape. Even while serving in the Army during World War II, he ran a mail order business, dubbing out-of-print jazz recordings for collectors. Despite chronicling the rise of modern jazz throughout the 50s, his own tastes leaned much more toward Louis Armstrong in the 20s. To his everlasting credit, though, he … Continue reading Weekly Posting, September 4th, 2020

Who was Charlie Parker? The first book to attempt an answer was Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker, by Robert Reisner, published in1962. It’s a collection of firsthand accounts from people who knew Bird personally, from the famous to the forgotten, and it raises more questions than it answers. In fact, one central question hangs over the entire enterprise: how much of it is true? There were no attempts to verify these accounts, and there are no disclaimers to be found as to their questionable veracity. On the other hand, the book’s title serves as fair warning. These accounts are indeed the stuff of legend, … Continue reading Weekly Posting, August 28th, 2020

On August 20th, 1953, Charlie Parker (Bird) sent a Western Union Money Order to his wife Chan from St Louis, Missouri, with the following message: HOLD ON TIGHT AND BE GOOD AND CALL ME There is a chain of such telegrams stretching from June, 1952, to October, 1954, and they form a narrative of sorts, snapshots of time, place, and–to the extent that it’s reasonable to infer–the state of Bird’s marriage. All these messages accompanied money orders that Bird sent Chan from the road to support their family. Bird was making an attempt at financial responsibility, a concept foreign to … Continue reading Weekly Posting, August 21st, 2020

On August 14, 1947, Miles Davis made his first recording date as a leader at Harry Smith Studios in New York City, for Savoy Records. Savoy was owned and operated by legendary cheapskate Herman Lubinsky, but it was Teddy Reig, Savoy‘s A&R man, who organized and supervised the recording sessions. Reig was a legend in his own right. Six feet tall, three hundred pounds, and inclined to to yell in order to make a point, he grew up in Harlem, chose 52nd Street over high school, knew every jazz musician on the scene personally, engaged in various hustles to make … Continue reading Weekly Posting, August 14th, 2020

On Wednesday, August 8th, 1951, Charlie Parker (Bird) entered RCA Victor studios in New York City, accompanied by Red Rodney, trumpet, John Lewis, piano, Ray Brown, bass, and Kenny Clarke, drums. This assemblage bore some resemblance to Bird’s working quintet because it included Red Rodney, who had replaced Kenny Dorham at the end of 1949. Producer Norman Granz made a conscious effort, it would seem, not to record Bird’s working quintet, despite the artistic success of the Dial and Savoy recordings, so this date is the only studio recording with Bird and Red Rodney together. At the beginning of the year, Granz … Continue reading Weekly Posting, August 7th, 2020

On July 30th, 1953, Charlie Parker (Bird) recorded four sides for Norman Granz at Fulton Recording, NYC, accompanied by Al Haig, Percy Heath, and Max Roach. Max Roach related an interesting anecdote to Phil Schaap concerning Bird’s composition, “Chi Chi”.  Bird came by my place one morning and I was laboring over this [music]. This is when I was recording, when Mingus and I formed the Debut Company and I did date with Cou-Manchi-Cou and all that stuff in it. And Bird came by and I said, “Damn!“ It was like 3 o’clock in the morning. I lived on 30th St. between 3rd and 2nd … Continue reading Weekly Posting, July 31st, 2020