Charlie Parker - The Complete Live Performances on Savoy 1947-1950 [4 CD, 1998/FLAC]

 

This four-CD set contains a somewhat streamlined presentation of Parker's complete known live broadcasts from New York's Royal Roost, dating during 1948 and 1949, augmented with five of the live September 29, 1947, Carnegie Hall recordings and one lower-quality tape made in Chicago during 1950.

For years, the audio quality of many of the performances gathered on these four CDs prevented a full-on embrace, what with all the other available Charlie Parker out there. But this collection restores these sessions to notoriety. They're mostly from New York's Royal Roost, 1948 to 1950, but with a 1947 Carnegie Hall supergroup concert and a 1950 Chicago pickup date that boasts some unknowns--and undersung guitarist George Freeman--with Parker. First, the single drawback: emcee and radio host "Symphony Sid" Torin's sometimes obsequious, faux-hipster shtick that bookends several of the tunes. Rest assured, though, Torin makes only brief intros and outros. Beyond that, these are all stellar works. The quintet on three of the CDs (the Royal Roost sessions) features Parker with Miles Davis on much of CD 1, highlighting the clipped fire of bebop's architecture being tunneled under by Davis's mellow-tone brass. Even when Kenny Dorham takes over on trumpet, the alchemy is built on contrast, Parker's raspy, fast wit and Dorham's wry (but often likemindedly fast) ripostes. Pianists Tadd Dameron and Al Haig make great showings, as does Max Roach, pushing the energy with a loose attack that defies the fact that the majority of these performances were for radio. The more-famed quintet fronted by Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and pianist John Lewis (famed cofounder of the Modern Jazz Quartet) closes the collection with five tunes from a 1947 Carnegie Hall concert. Parker seems more restrained, Gillespie gleeful, and Lewis characteristically spare. But the playing is first-rate, whether at light-speed (as on "Dizzy Atmosphere") or at the loping clip of "Groovin' High."

 




Disc 1
  1. 52Nd Street Theme
  2. Koko
  3. Groovin' High
  4. Big Foot
  5. Ornithology
  6. Slow Boat To China
  7. Hot House
  8. Salt Peanuts
  9. Chasin' The Bird
  10. Out Of Nowhere
  11. How High The Moon
  12. Half Nelson
  13. White Christmas
  14. Little Willie Leaps
  15. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid / Bebop
  16. Slow Boat To China

Disc 2
  1. Ornithology
  2. Groovin' High
  3. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
  4. Cheryl
  5. How High The Moon
  6. Scrapple From The Apple
  7. Be-Bop
  8. Hot House
  9. Oop Bop Sh' Bam
  10. Scrapple From The Apple
  11. Salt Peanuts
  12. Groovin' High
  13. Scrapple From The Apple
  14. Barbados
  15. Salt Peanuts
  16. Scrapple From The Apple

Disc 3
  1. Barbados
  2. Be-Bop
  3. Groovin' High
  4. Confirmation
  5. Salt Peanuts
  6. Half-Nelson
  7. A Night In Tunisia
  8. Scrapple From The Apple
  9. Deedle
  10. What's This?
  11. Cheryl
  12. Anthropology
  13. Hurry Home
  14. Deedle
  15. Royal Roost Bop
  16. Cheryl
  17. Slow Boat To China
  18. Chasin' The Bird

Disc 4

  1. There's A Small Hotel
  2. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
  3. Keen And Peachy
  4. Hot House
  5. Swivel Hips (Bird, Bass And Out)
  6. Goodbye
  7. A Night In Tunisia
  8. Dizzy Atmosphere
  9. Groovin' High
  10. Confirmation
  11. Koko
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