If you haven’t noticed that you’re living in a golden age of recorded music, you are missing something. Never in world history has there been such easy access to a surfeit of sounds. Gobs of recordings of important music (some never heard before by the public) is coming to surface almost daily, and it’s hard to keep up with it.
Latest on the list of finds in the gold mine is this 4LP/2Cd set of material recorded between 1945 and 1952 of bebop pioneer Charlie Parker, along with fellow Bop Mt. Rushmore artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown and even Chet Baker for a visit. The recordings (most of it in very good sound quality) take place mostly at the famed Billy Berg’s Supper Club in Hollywood, at the NBC Studios, The Finale Club in Little Tokyo, A JATP gig at the Shrine Auditorium, and a party in Altadena California. How’s that for the life of a jazz musician?
The recordings sometimes just contain fragments of tunes such as “Dizzy Atmosphere”, and incomplete takes of “I Waited For You/How High The Moon” with some jiving dialogue by Harry “The Hipster Gibson” and Slim Gaillard as MC. The energy and vibe is what is captured in this opening time capsule, while the studio material of Diz and Bird with Lucky Thompson/ts, Milt Jackson/vib, Al Haig/p, Ray Brown/b and Stan Levey/dr (with Rudy Vallee as MC) bring in a smoking take of “Salt Peanuts” with a smaller edition of the group burn through “ Shaw ‘Nuff” and “Dizzy Atmosphere” with Parker and Gillespie in inspired form.
A 1946 gig in Little Tokyo LA has Parker with Miles Davis/tp, Joe Albany/p, Addison Farmer/b and Chuck Thompson/dr in deft shape for “Billie’s Bounce”, “Ornithology” and a glorious “All The Things You Are”, with Miles squeezing out sparks on “Blue ‘n’ Boogie”. An all star “Jubilee” has Parker with Willie Smith, Benny Carter, Nat Cole’s Trio and Buddy Rich for a snappy read of “Cherokee”, while JATP session from ’48 has Parker’s quartet delivering a handful of tunes including a lyrical “Out Of Nowhere”.
Things get real fun at the Altadena party, as Parker is teamed with devotee Frank Morgan/as, Don Wilkerson/ts, Amos Trice/p, David Bailey/bs and Larance Marable/dr for some stretching out between the saxes. There’s an exciting “Au Privave/Dance of the Infidels” with the horns exchanging fours like ping pong players, as well as a “Hot House” and “Cool Blues” that have Morgan and Parker volleying ideas across the bow. Chet Baker sits in for one take at the ’52 gathering and is quite impressive with his peers on “Scrapple From The Apple”.
The music still sounds amazingly fresh after almost 4 score years of retrospect. Can anyone really say that’s going to happen with today’s music?