Charlie Parker - A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948 [5 CD, 2003] (FLAC + 320)

  

A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948 is a five-disc box set detailing what producer Ted Kendall considers to be the essential studio recordings of saxophonist Charlie Parker. Included here are not only the innovative bebop sides that made Parker a living legend, but also the early Kansas City swing recordings he appeared on while playing with the Jay McShann Orchestra. The result is a studio history of Parker's development from a struggling farm kid turned musician to the most important figure in jazz history next to Louis Armstrong. Given that these recordings are widely available, the real attraction here is the faithful-to-the-original remastered sound, the historically enlightening liner notes, and the overarching critical aesthetic that these are the Bird cuts to check out. Also, given that the tracks are presented with few repeats on discs in chronological order makes this better listening than Atlantic's Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings 1944-1948. Oddly though, the only place Kendall delineates what labels these tracks were originally released on -- mostly Dial and Savoy -- is in the track listing and there only by label numbers. Despite this confusing omission, Kendall has produced a superb collection that illuminates more than it overlooks.

Disc 1:

01 - I Found a New Baby (Palmer, Williams) 3:04
02 - Body and Soul (Eyton, Green, Heyman, Sour) 2:54
03 - Honeysuckle Rose (Razaf, Waller) 3:01
04 - Oh, Lady Be Good (Gershwin, Gershwin) 3:00
05 - Coquette (Green, Kahn, Lombardo) 3:13
06 - Moten Swing (Moten, Moten) 2:51
07 - Blues (Parker) 3:12
08 - Swingmatism (McShann, Scott) 2:40
09 - Hootie Blues (Brown, McShann, Parker) 2:58
10 - Dexter Blues (McShann) 2:58
11 - Lonely Boy Blues (Brown, McShann) 2:59
12 - Get Me on Your Mind (Johnson, Tums) 3:05
13 - The Jumpin' Blues (McShann) 3:04
14 - Sepian Bounce (Hall, McShann) 3:10
15 - Cherokee (Noble) 3:13
16 - My Heart Tells Me (Gordon, Warren) 3:21
17 - I've Found a New Baby (Palmer, Williams) 3:34
18 - Body and Soul (Eyton, Green, Heyman, Sour) 3:45
19 - Tiny's Tempo (Grimes, Hart) 2:58
20 - I'll Always Love You Just the Same (Grimes, Hart) 3:04
21 - Romance Without Finance (Grimes) 3:05
22 - Red Cross (Parker) 3:11
23 - What's the Matter Now? (Collins) 2:49
24 - I Want Every Bit of It (Hart) 3:17
25 - 4That's the Blues (Gillespie) 2:52


Disc 2:

01 - 4-F Blues (Hart) 2:38
02 - G.I. Blues (Hart) 2:25
03 - Dream of You (Lunceford, Morales, Oliver) 2:54
04 - Seventh Avenue (Higginbotham, Powell) 2:51
05 - Sorta Kinda (Hart, Young) 2:42
06 - Ooh Ooh, My My, Ooh Ooh 2:46
07 - Groovin' High (Gillespie) 2:41
08 - All the Things You Are (Hammerstein, Kern) 2:53
09 - Dizzy Atmosphere (Gillespie) 2:52
10 - Salt Peanuts (Clarke, Gillespie) 3:19
11 - Shaw 'Nuff (Brown, Fuller, Gillespie) 3:03
13 - Hot House (Dameron) 3:13
14 - What More Can a Woman Do (Barbour, Lee) 3:04
15 - I'd Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream (Feather, Russell) 2:45
16 - Mean to Me (Ahlert, Turk) 2:43
17 - Hallelujah (Grey, Robin, Youmans) 3:58
18 - Get Happy (Arlen, Koehler) 3:43
19 - Slam Slam Blues (Norvo) 4:28
20 - Congo Blues (Norvo) 3:54
21 - Takin' Off (Thompson) 3:11
22 - If I Had You (Campbell, Connelly, Shapiro) 3:04
23 - 20th Century Blues (Thompson) 2:58
24 - The Street Beat (Parker, Thompson) 2:36


Disc 3:

01 - Warming up a Riff (Parker) 2:39
02 - Billie's Bounce (Parker) 3:11
03 - Now's the Time (Parker) 3:19
04 - Thriving on a Riff (Gillespie, Parker) 2:58
05 - Meandering (Parker) 3:20
06 - Koko (Parker) 2:58
07 - Dizzy's Boogie (Gaillard) 3:16
08 - Flat Foot Floogie (Gaillard, Green, Stewart) 2:35
09 - Poppity Pop (Gaillard, Stewart) 3:00
10 - Slim's Jam (Gaillard, Stewart) 3:18
11 - Diggin' Diz (Handy) 2:54
12 - Moose the Mooche (Parker) 3:06
13 - Yardbird Suite (Parker) 2:57
14 - Ornithology (Harris, Parker) 3:02
15 - The Famous Alto Break 0:51
16 - A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie, Paparelli) 3:07
17 - Max (Is) Making Wax (Pettiford) 2:32
18 - Lover Man (Davis, Ramirez, Sherman) 3:21
19 - The Gypsy (Reid) 3:03
20 - Bebop (Gillespie) 2:54
21 - Blues, Pt. 1 & 2 (Parker) 1:48
22 - Yardbird Suite (Parker) 2:14
23 - Lullaby in Rhythm, Pt. 1 & 2 (Goodman, Hirsch, Profit, Sampson) 3:06
24 - Home Cooking, No. 1: Opus (McKusick) 2:24
25 - Home Cooking, No. 2: Cherokee (Noble) 2:09
26 - Home Cooking, No. 3: I Got Rhythm (Gershwin, Gershwin) 2:28


Disc 4:

01 - This Is Always (Gordon, Warren) 3:15
02 - Dark Shadows (Coleman, Henry) 3:09
03 - Bird's Nest (Parker) 2:48
04 - Cool Blues (Parker) 3:07
05 - Relaxin' at Camarillo (Parker) 3:10
06 - Cheers (McGhee, Parker) 3:07
07 - Carvin' the Bird (McGhee, Parker) 2:51
08 - Stupendous (McGhee) 3:02
09 - Donna Lee (Parker) 2:35
10 - Chasin' the Bird (Parker) 2:46
11 - Cheryl (Parker) 3:00
12 - Buzzy (Parker) 2:32
13 - Milestones (Davis) 2:39
14 - Little Willie Leaps (Davis) 2:54
15 - Half Nelson (Davis) 2:48
16 - Sippin' at Bells (Davis) 2:25
17 - Dexterity (Parker) 3:00
18 - Bongo Bop (Parker) 2:47
19 - Dewey Square (Parker) 3:08
20 - The Hymn (Parker) 2:30
21 - Bird of Paradise (Parker) 3:12
22 - Embraceable You (Gershwin, Gershwin) 3:25
23 - Bird Feathers (Parker) 2:53
24 - Klact-Oveeseds-Tene (Parker) 3:08
25 - Scrapple from the Apple (Parker) 2:58
26 - My Old Flame (Coslow, Johnston) 3:11

Disc 5:

01 - Out of Nowhere (Green, Heyman) 3:53
02 - Don't Blame Me (Fields, McHugh) 2:49
03 - Drifting on a Reed (Parker) 3:03
04 - Quasimodo (Parker) 3:01
05 - Charlie's Wig (Parker) 2:48
06 - Bongo Beep (Parker) 3:07
07 - Crazeology (Harris) 3:05
08 - How Deep Is the Ocean? (Berlin) 3:34
09 - The Bird (Parker) 4:49
10 - Repetition (Hefti) 3:02
11 - Another Hair Do (Parker) 2:43
12 - Bluebird (Parker) 2:54
13 - Klaunstance (Parker) 2:46
14 - Bird Gets the Worm (Parker) 2:40
15 - Barbados (Parker) 2:32
16 - Ah-Leu-Cha (Parker) 2:57
17 - Constellation (Parker) 2:32
18 - Parker's Mood (Parker) 3:08
19 - Perhaps (Parker) 2:37
20 - Marmaduke (Parker) 2:47
21 - Steeplechase (Parker) 3:09
22 - Merry-Go-Round (Parker) 2:29
23 - No Noise, Pts. 1 & 2 (Bartee) 5:45
24 - Mango Mangue (Sunshine, Valdes) 2:56