Customer Reviews

Jam Session

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

 

 

This is an absolutly marvellous example of what Jazz was and still should be (not because it's more mainstream than bebop, in any case I love them both). The joy of playing with friends on common grounds, the standards and blues repertoire. I think I own everything Bird has ever played/released or at least I come really near. All the Dial, Savoy, Verve, Benedetti recordings, Bird's Eyes, Live & Broadcasts, Blue Note concerts, recent discoveries, almost everything (more than 150 cds). This album cannot be considered a pure Bird album because he shared the scene with a lot of other sax stars which gave the session a different feeling from a lot of Bird's records. I mean that this album is more Jazz "the Kansas City way" than bebop. It is a session more traditional than bebop. The only true beboppers are Bird, Kessel and Peterson (and Brown of course). The others, Webster, Hodges, Carter etc are more traditional than strictly bebop so the overall sound is more on that side of course. But it's not a complaint, only an obvious consideration. The album is really fresh and entertaining, you can compar eit to a lot of JATP sessions in a sense. So it's not a "revolutionary" album, not one that set a standard or that marked a change in Jazz history, nevertheless it's essential in its way. It is a perect representation of what Jazz was more at Lester Young time than Bird time, but it's very very good. It deserves 5 stars absolutly. Every player shined here and found his time to strecht out and show his bags of tricks fully. One of the highlights is the comping by Oscar Peterson swing machine which gave to the session a fabolous imprinting. The program is damn good. Two very long blues tunes, a very beautiful standard ("What is this thing" one of the standards I love the most) and a ballad medley. Fantastic! And even if Bird is playing more or less his usual cliches and nothing more, he's still Bird! I love this album, for real. Buy it, you will love it for years and years too.

This album comes as a pleasant surprise on several levels. I thought my collection of Charlie Parker recordings was as complete as it needed to be--most of the Dial and Savoy masters and alternate takes, lots of air shots, the fabled solos on "Embraceable You" and "Night in Tunisia," and of course the historic Massey Hall concert, later billed as the "World's Greatest Jazz Concert." But as impressive as all those recordings are, they distance the listener in ways that may fuel the cult aura surrounding Bird and contribute to his legendary status but hardly atone for my inability to see and hear him performing live. The truncated solos of the 78 rpm recordings, the very "lo fi" audio, the predictable bebop repertory all served to provoke and tantalize as much as satisfy curiosity about his genius.

"Jam Session" is the only album I've heard that presents Charlie Parker in familiar company with room to stretch out and with microphones capable of capturing the moment with the versimilitude expected by today's listeners. Supported by Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown and sharing solo space with 4 progenitors of the saxophone, all of whom would ironically outlive him, Bird sounds both relaxed and in control, a musician who doesn't need to prove anything to anybody, but just playing for the fun of it. It's a rare, humanizing glimpse of a legend who proves no less mortal than his bandmates.

If you play the saxophone, THIS IS A MUST HAVE ALBUM! If you like the saxophone this is a really, really should have album. Norman Granz produced many of his JATP (Jazz at the Philharmonic) titles featuring top names. This recording is akin to those. Johnny Hodge's solo on Funky Blues is featured above in the recording and it is so great! I can't believe that the listing on this CD doesn't talk about having Parker, Hodges, Carter, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips, Charlie Shavers and an All-Star rhythm section. BTW, there are really only FOUR (4) tracks on this CD. One of them is a medley of the ballads, each player being featured on a tune.

This is a landmark session, if for no other reason than the number of jazz legends present. Everyone on the CD should be on a "Jazz Walk of Fame." Several of the people who also reviewed this CD talked of Charlie Shavers. While there are many reasons to buy this CD, Shavers is a highlight of the session. He was an incredibly talented musician who fell in between Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie on the jazz trumpet timeline.

Bird is awewome, but most who listen would not know that Bird had quite a hand in the way this session progressed. From photos unearthed in the early 1990s and published in France in 1995, it's clear that Bird was a co-leader of this session as well as on equal footing with the entire group. Seeing Bird direct Ben Webster, Flip Phillips, Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter (the five of them must have been the best sax lineup ever assembled) documents how much his peers respected his musicianship, if not his lifestyle. Everyone participated in the structure of this session however. I think I heard that Benny Carter was unhappy with the changes he played on Isn't It Romantic, and recorded it again soon afterwards to improve his rendition.

I'd heard this CD before, but after I saw the photo essay with all of the pictures from the session, I truly had a sense for the importance of this gathering. Seeing the photo document of this monumental session - the first and only time Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter and Bird got together - reinforces the universal language of music.

The essay, by Hank O'Neal and Norman Granz, plus the photos, taken by Esther Bubley, make the aforementioned book a fabulous companion to the CD. Sadly, the book is in limited distribution, and was only printed in French. With pictures like this, who cares?

This is my favorite of Bird's all-star collaborations captured on Verve. Although the medley left me wanting more of each song,it is a stunning showcase for underrated trumpeter Charlie Shavers, and tenorist Flip Phillips. It also has more than enough thrills for devotees of Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Oscar Peterson, and especially Johnny Hodges. The highlight of the CD is the final selection, Funky Blues, a Hodges original. Bird offers one of his most penetrating,inventive, and unforgettable solos here. Although Funky Blues is a slow tune, the utter soul of Oscar's piano accompaniment always make my feet move. Hodges also soars,and concedes nothing in the soul department. It's a nice contrast to hear him in a context outside Duke Ellington's orchestra. This is a rousing, infectious CD, essential to any jazz collection.

It is great session.
For me it is the best jam session ever recorded at studio. And mainly there play together three best alto players ever - Johnny Hoges, Benny Carter and Charlie Parker and play great. But there is perfect playing by other musicians like Oscar Peterson, Ben Webster or Flip Phillips. This cd includes two blues and two ballads. Highpoint is Funky Blues wroten by Hodges. All musicians play two blues choruses except base, drums and Oscar Peterson plays 3 choruses.
All plays great but Parker's alto solo is superb with accuracy and deep-felt. It's must for every Hodges or Parker fans, but for all who loves great jam sessions with great jazz names too.

This cd is a really nice one to pick up. Not only do you have Bird doing some serious jamming but a whole line-up of the top jazz players of the period: Johnny Hodges, Oscar Peterson, and Ben Webster to name a few. The ballad medley is excellent as each player gets a song to show their stuff on, but the biggest reasons to buy this disc are the songs "Jam Blues" and "Funky Blues" which are really just extended jam sessions where all the players really get to stretch out. I would recommend buying this disc in the newly released box set titled "The Norman Granz Jam Sessions." Not only do you get this disc, but four others with all star line-ups that include Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, and Buddy Rich to name a few. So do yourself a favor and pick up the box set ASAP. You will not be disappointed.

This is not a Charlie Parker album. He does not lead the band, he has no compositions on the CD, and he is assigned no more solo space than the rest of the gang. Parker, in fact, founded a completely different kind of music than that presented here.

If you want a nice, easy to listen to jam session record featuring a collection of true legends on their various instruments, this is certainly a good one. The solos are well crafted, the rhythm section support is first rate, and everybody gets to stretch out. On the downside, there's little true engagement or interplay between the horns, and the riffing is unadventuresome. And the remastering (if any) leaves this with somewhat muddy sound.

But if you want to discover Charlie Parker, well, on this record he's just a member of the gang. The Bird was pretty well grounded by 1952. So if you want the not-so-nice Parker of fame and legend; if you want the Bird if full flight, you absolutely must get Charlie Parker: A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948. After listening to it for a while, I find Jam Session pretty bland fare. And despite the notoriously poor conditions under which the Chronicle recordings were made, the sound is actually better.

Hard to assign stars to this. As a late night balm to soothe the savage breast: 5 stars. As an interesting lab for comparative saxophone playing: 4 stars. As a "jazz" record: 3 stars. As a Charlie Parker record: 2 stars. Then knock off a star for the mediocre recording quality (I know the Verve masters are better than this!)

Footnote: I do have an old copy of Jam Session, so if someone out there has a new copy that sounds better, please post a comment to this review.

I can't remember when I first heard this record, but I bought it on vinyl when I was in college. Back then it was packaged differently and was part of the Norman Granz Jazz At the Philharmonic series. At a time when every fraternity boy on campus owned Barry White records that, in theory, were supposed to render college girls helpless - I thought the Ballad Medley would prove to be a high octane substitute. The results were disappointing on many levels. College girls. Go figure.

This is my favorite of Bird's all-star collaborations captured on Verve. Although the medley left me wanting more of each song,it is a stunning showcase for underrated trumpeter Charlie Shavers, and tenorist Flip Phillips. It also has more than enough thrills for devotees of Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Oscar Peterson, and especially Johnny Hodges. The highlight of the CD is the final selection, Funky Blues, a Hodges original. Bird offers one of his most penetrating,inventive, and unforgettable solos here. Although Funky Blues is a slow tune, the utter soul of Oscar's piano accompaniment always make my feet move. Hodges, not to be outdone, also soars,conceding nothing in the soul department. It's a nice contrast to hear him in a context outside Duke Ellington's orchestra. This is a rousing, infectious CD, essential to any jazz collection.