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

JAZZ @ LINCOLN CENTER CHARLIE PARKER WITH STRINGS CONCERT Here’s an episode of NPR’s Jazz Night In America called “Bird Lives! A Charlie Parker Centennial, With Strings Attached.” The main musical focus of the program is a concert from Jazz @ Lincoln Center featuring the Bird with Strings material played live with Charles McPherson, Wes Anderson and Vince Gardner as featured soloists. Along with the usual chestnuts the concert repertoire includes 2 pieces that Bird commissioned for the ensemble but never recorded: George Russell’s “Ezz-thetic,” and John Lewis’ “Scootin’.” WANT TO HAVE YOUR OWN D.I.Y. BIRD WITH STRINGS CONCERT? You … Continue reading Websites and Posts Worth a Look #2

Saturday August 29 was the actual 100th birthday for Charlie Parker and his name briefly crossed the radar screen of American culture. Here are essays by 3 first rate jazz writers: Lewis Porter at Tidal.com Understanding Bird We know that Parker was building on the work of his predecessors; there’s no other way to create anything. And yet his music is inexplicable: It takes a leap beyond what others might have done (and did) with the same influences. If the word “genius” means anything, maybe this is one aspect of it — the ability to take the past and create … Continue reading The Party Continues!

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