The Complete Live Performances On Savoy (4-cd Set)

Charlie Parker

The Complete Savoy Live Performances:
September 29, 1947-October 25, 1950

Royal Roost (1948-1949)
Carnegie Hall (1947)
Chicago (1950)

Tracklisting:

CD 1 - From the Royal Roost (Part I) 71:07

01. 52nd Street Theme
02. Koko
03. Groovin' high
04. Big Foot
05. Ornithology
06. Slow Boat To China
07. Hot House
08. Salt Peanuts
09. 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


CD 2 - From the Royal Roost (Part II) 71:10

01. Ornithology
02. Groovin' High
03. East Of The Sun (and West of the Moon)
04. Cheryl
05. How High The Moon
06. Scrapple From The Apple
07. Be-Bop
08. Hot House
09. 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


CD 3 - From the Royal Roost (Part III) 69:18

01. Barbados
02. Be-Bop
03. Groovin' High
04. Confirmation
05. Salt Peanuts
06. Half-Nelson
07. A Night In Tunisia
08. Scrapple From The Apple
09. 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

CD 4

01. There's A Small Hotel
02. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
03. Keen And Peachy
04. Hot House
05. Swivel Hips (Bird, Bass and Out)
06. Goodbye
07. A Night In Tunisia
08. Dizzy Atmosphere
09. Groovin' High
10. Confirmation
11. Koko

Total time: 270 min. aprox.


Compilation produced by Orrin Keepnews.
Annotation by Loren Schoenberg & Paul Bacon.

-----------------------------------------------------

Notes:

"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."

-Andrew Bartlett


"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. The vitality of these performances still radiates off the tapes in whatever format they're reproduced 50-plus years later -- the interaction between the bandmembers, which include Miles Davis (or Kenny Dorham) on trumpet and Max Roach at the drums, and Tadd Dameron or Al Haig at the ivories, is spellbinding. The difference between these performances and Parker's studio work of the period is that he was always "on" for the broadcasts, and had already achieved something of a peak that he still missed in his studio work of the era -- those along with him rose to the occasion, as witnessed by Kenny Dorham's playing on Miles Davis' "Half Nelson" in December of 1947. On the other hand, nobody could touch Parker when he was at his peak on stage, which he ascends easily on a jam set to Irving Berlin's "White Christmas." In the Chicago material, [...] Parker is certainly audible, and hearing his improvisations on material like Rodgers & Hart's "There's a Small Hotel" is worth the price of the disc, even on what amounts to a good audience tape. The source material has been very carefully mastered, striking a good balance between clean playback and fidelity to the original performance, and the dozens of pages of notes represent virtually a separate, free-standing book on Parker during this period in his career."

Bruce Eder -All Music Guide

Related Products

DRCD 11254 Legendary 1952 Jam Sessions Charlie Parker

DRCD 11229 2CDs Complete Onyx Recordings Charlie Parker

JFCD22856 Complete Jazz At Massey Hall Charlie Parker

FSRCD 359 Inglewood Jam – Bird & Chet Live At The Trade Winds 1952 (remastered Edition) Charlie Parker & Chet Baker