Customer Reviews

The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings 1944-1948

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Yes, the packaging is shoddy and user-unfriendly; yes, the pitch was off on my copy too; and yes, the presence of numerous alternate and partial takes will please collectors and jazz musicians alone. The first two points are just facts of life that shouldn't keep serious Parker fans from getting this essential set. But the last point is why neophytes should stay away. This is not the best way be introduced to Bird, and in fact it will likely rarely be listened to by beginners. They instead should get "Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker" (on Rhino), as soon as possible. It's a concise two-disc collection that hits most of the truly crucial Dial and Savoy masters from Bird's career--classic recording after classic recording--and even includes a number of Clef and Verve-era recordings for a fuller picture. The packaging is classy, the selection impeccable, and the dross nil. ANYONE even mildly interested in jazz will find "Yardbird Suite" a truly satisfying and compelling package. Even serious non-completist jazz fans will find that this set is almost all the Bird they need. Purists may disagree with me, but if you're on a budget, then "Yardbird Suite" will do you just fine.

As reported in the December 2000 issue of Ice Magazine, Savoy Entertainment will send buyers a corrected copy of Disc Four as well as corrected track lists for Discs Four, Seven and Eight to anyone who sends them the faulty Disc Four. It took about three weeks in my case. Send your faulty discs to --

Mr. Barry Feldman Savoy Entertainment Group 5 East 19th St., Second Floor New York, NY 10003

The pitch correction/speed on disc four is incorrect. This mistake wasn't caught until some time after this box set was pressed. At this moment, corrected discs are being manufactured and should be made available some time soon. If you believe you have a defective disc, contact the retailer you bought it from and find out if they have received any corrected discs (this is important; some retailers won't have a clue about this and if you aren't specific and clear, they will simply exchange your set for another defective copy). They should be able to swap discs with you free of charge.

The problem is most noticeable on the session featuring "Donna Lee." Basically, if you listen carefully, you'll notice that the rhythm section sounds too high and things sound a bit too fast compared to other CD's containing the same material (such as Denon's "The Genius Of Charlie Parker").

At last! The most innovative studio recordings by one of the most creative musical artists of all time have been assembled in one deluxe, newly-remastered package. Even the handful of lesser sessions mostly hold up over repeated listenings. Meanwhile, the top-notch tracks--and there are many--are as important as any recording by any artist you can think of, whether it be Satchmo's Hot 5/7's, Ellington's Blanton/Webster classics, Elvis' Sun sessions, the Beatles'1960's run of great albums, not to mention the most remarkable works by artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and any other legend you can think of in any genre!

Charlie `Bird' Parker was a key figure in the modern jazz revolution that turned swing to bop: his Savoy and Dial dates are generally regarded as his most crucial studio recordings. However, don't think that these recordings are so esoteric that they cannot be enjoyed on an emotional heart/soul level as well--Bird communicates his genius at YOUR entry-level, whatever that may be. This deluxe package is the most user-friendly yet in-depth way to absorb Parker's achievements. Not only is the music remastered from the best-available sources, but the packaging has an informative, detachable book that will illuminate both newcomers and those who have this material literally memorized (Bird's solos are studied THAT closely by many musicians).

Furthermore, a twist that I like--others may not--is to sequence the master takes of each session first, then afterward present the alternates. This makes it easier for the listener to skip the outtakes, not that I'd often want to. To potential buyers, the alternate versions are considered by Parker fans to be important because they allow the listener to hear more opportunities for Bird--and such stellar sidemen as a young, developing Miles Davis--to improvise on the themes, which are mostly based on 12-bar blues or 32-bar pop chord progressions. Maybe a few of the scraps preserved here aren't that enlightening (all false starts and incomplete takes are presented), but virtually all of the complete takes are. Bird had a cache of trademark licks, but he always found a unique way to reorganize them.

Some buyers may be satisfied with the inevitable "highlights" CD that seems to grow out of most boxed sets (I believe that one is already available for this box). However, if you want to dig a little deeper into Bird's timeless music, then this is the best place to start!

I suppose if you even KNOW who Charlie Parker is, you might want to buy this collection. But, I am here to tell you that this collection really isn't for the casual Jazz Music buyer. This collection is for the very hard core jazz historians, music disectors and saxophone students.

Why is this? This is NOT 8 CD's with 160 plus DIFFERENT tunes. This is 8 CD's of studio recordings, unedited, regurgitated in digital splendor. Because there is NO EDITING, the discs become aggravating. For instance, Disc 8 has 11 (that's right, eleven!!) tracks of Marmaduke. This includes four false starts (less than four bars). The four incomplete tracks are less aggravating and the three other tracks are just repetitious on a casual basis.

This is not a set where you pop in a disc or five and set it in motion for a few hours of your favorite hits. It is a study of all the different ways Charlie bird recorded some songs.

BUT, for those of us who live and die by the saxophone and worship at the alter built from discarded reeds (allegedly) used by the bird.... Well!! all I can say is that each track has different rifs. If you are looking to blow some bird that isn't in the everyday fake book, here is a chance to copy some different licks.

In a way, I feel ripped off. There isn't a hundred bucks worth of entertainment in this package. The producers could have left off the false starts and the very short takes.

On the other hand, these cuts show the real Charlie Parker: a saxophone player who has problems with his reeds just the way we wannabes have. A saxophone player who misses a note now and then.

If you are not hard core jazz fanatic, I recommend saving your money. You will be frustrated by hearing the same song again, and again, and ....

I'm going to confine my remarks to the music on these discs, as I'm aware of the shortcomings of the Savoy box set - flimsy packaging and some dodgy pitch corrections. These are serious problems, all right. Given that Parker was perhaps the most creative jazz musician ever, he has been amazingly badly served in terms of subsequent re-releases; Coltrane, Mingus, Davis and Powell are all abundantly and painstakingly available, but Parker still has to be rooted around for.

So my remarks are aimed more at the Parker neophyte than at the serious collector.

I first heard what was then Volume 2 (1945) of the Savoy sessions on LP, when I was about 15. It was the first time in my life when I suddenly knew that I'd encountered genius. (There haven't been many since.) I just couldn't believe that anyone could think that fast, that beautifully, that directly. Discovering the larger context, Parker's brilliance seems more and more incredible. The early sides with the Tiny Grimes quintet are pleasant enough, until Parker lets rip, and then it's like Jimi Hendrix playing as a sideman for Little Richard - he is already years ahead of his peers.

The classic cuts, tunes like "Ko-Ko" and "Now's The Time" and "Little Willie Leaps" and "Parker's Mood" and, well, you name them, are not merely interesting in terms of being crucial in jazz history. Parker's leaping, soaring freedom, the sound that made the nickname "Bird" (wherever it came from) seem so completely _right_, creates some of the most exhilarating, joyful music ever played. It's all the more electrifying for being so apparently strung over a tightrope. These guys were playing at the very limits of their craft, and when a take breaks down you begin to see the gap between what they could hear in their heads and what they were yet able to play. (Interesting that of all the players here, including geniuses of the order of Davis, Gillespie and Max Roach, only Bud Powell seems to be as thoroughly at home in the idiom as Parker.)

It's been said before, but I'll say it one more time - Charlie Parker's Savoy recordings are a high point in music, a high point in human achievement. Few other musicians have been at once so imaginative and so immediate. It's just a damn shame that nobody has been able to put this stuff into a decently manageable, durable, well-made package. Well, the same could be said about James Joyce - another genius whose work seems to gain and glow as the years go by.

As another reviewer has stated, if you have a faulty disc No. 4 on your Charlie Parker set you can send it back to Savoy at:

Savoy Entertainment Group
5 East 19th Street
2nd Floor
NY, NY 10003

If you are reluctant to send away your CD to an unknown address and hope for the best, you can contact Savoy at info@.savoyentertainmentgroup.com or contact Scott Yeckes the Savoy Entertainment Group VP of Sales and Marketing the old fashioned way at: 212-777-8075 ext. 12

I received my corrected CD about 10 days after I sent it away along with a copy of a letter from Orrin Keepnews (the reissue producer) that includes corrections of errors on the booklet.

The best way to tell if you have the faulty disc (for those who are not familiar with the tunes on the disc) is that the disc is subtantially shorter than the corrected one. For instance the master take of Donna Lee (track 13) runs about 2:21 on the faulty disc and about 2:34 on the corrected disc (a difference of 10%).

Good Luck

The design of this "box set" has to take the prize for the worst I have ever owned. The sleeves for the individual disks are so tight, that the first time you remove the individual disks you run a very high risk of damaging them before you even get to listen to them! You'll either smudge or scratch the disks or you'll destroy the paper sleeves if you're not VERY patient. Getting the disks back in their sleeves might be just as difficult. Why do record companies continue trying to outdo each other in outlandish but highly inconvenient packaging? And how long does Savoy expect the flap on the outside of the package to last?

The music on these disks represents jazz at its most inspired, and the remasterings are outstanding. But how poorly it is served by the packaging. Even the book is ineptly designed, with almost all photographs barely more than 1 inch square. Even the documents reproduced on pages 46 & 48 are at this illegible size, and I can only ask, Why? Shame on Savoy for treating Charlie Parker's greatest recordings so thoughtlessly after taking evidently great care to remaster them in the best way possible. How can I say don't buy this set when the music is so great? Buy it, but write a letter of protest to Savoy, 122 East 55th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10022 and request a couple of jewel cases to transfer the disks to.

I'd like to echo other reviewers thoughts about this package.

Before you go on reading, let me say that I'm no Jazz expert, I just got into Jazz since viewing Ken Burns's documentary, and just fell in love with the sound of Bird. I never heard such virtuosity and creativeness on an instrument of any kind before or since then.

Now on to THE MUSIC:

The music on this CD set steams with energy. I've had this in my car player for about 3 months and haven't stopped listening to it!!! I personally like the extra takes of many of the tracks. I also don't mind the pitch control because I do not have other versions (from other CD compilations) to compare them to. Bottom line - great material to study and chill to.

Now, the downer- THE PACKAGING STINKS!!!! - like many have stated, it is very hard to pull out and into the sleeves the CDs. You literally are touching the whole CD to get the darn thing in and out!! -- try to be very delicate with these discs!!
Also very troubling is the booklet that comes with the set. With all the pages that are contained therein, I always feel I am going to break the binding that holds them together - thus making it a little troublesome to read all the way through. Not to mention a lot of the text is in light brown (almost the color of the background itself) so it is hard to read. One more complaint - the only way to study the track listing - or follow along is to take this book out. -- Kinda wished it was on the outside or inside cover of the actual box! Oh well.

If it wasn't for the packaging, this would posssibly have been the best box set I owned aside from the ones put out by Columbia and their treatment of the Miles Davis catalogue.

Bottom Line: Newcomers beware - there is lots of music to absorb, but worth it if you have the time and the patience. And that goes for the packaging as well. If you are looking for a "lighter weight compilation", might I point you to check out the "Yardbird Suite" compilation put out by Rhino. 2 CDs of prime Bird!!! Word of warning before you open this - be patient getting out those CDs folks!!!

As numerous reviewers have indicated below, this really is perhaps best suited to very serious scholars or completists. However, how can you not want to hear, for example, all of the taks and fluffed versions of Parker's Mood? I know of nowhere else to introduce and explain to a modern listerner with no knowledge of Jazz just what improvision is all about. In any case, it should be mentioned that this set includes not just all that great Dial and Savoy Parker, but also the wonderful Dizzy Gillespie Sextet/Quintet stuff (very handy in this format) which adds considerable context. The music is worth 10 stars! However, there are several problems here: namely, the packaging and the booklet. Firstly, what the hell is the deal with the silly sprial bound [stuff]? It too hard to get the damn cds out and its so flimsy! And why do the cd sleaves not have the track listings on them? Its insane that you have to wreastle the damn booklet out just to find out what tracks are on each. Finally, the booklet significantly borrows from the 1980 lp boxset of the savoy material (which I am replacing with this set) and includes a really poor Ira Gitler (or whatever his name is) 'essay'. Overall, the packaging and the ... content scream 'budget'. Perhaps this is the future of this kind of Jazz re-issue - but I hope not.