Customer Reviews

Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's hard to believe the good fortune we have of being able to listen to this surprisingly well-recorded, previously lost Town Hall concert concert from June 22, 1945. Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Don Byas, Al Haig, Curley Russell, Max Roach & Big Sid Catlett are presented here just months after the first Bop records were recorded in a blistering concert MC'd by the redoubtable Symphony Sid Torin. This is Bop at it's inception, played in the heat of enthusiasm and discovery. Diz is a marvel on every cut, Bird plays as if his very life depended on it, Al Haig is allowed to stretch out as he never was on the original records and the rhythm section of Russell & Roach were creating the sound of the future. Special guests Byas & Big Sid are an added treat. The breaks & solos on "Night In Tunisia" and "Salt Peanuts" have lost none of their ability to scare the living s**t out of musicians to this very day. If you have ANY interest in these artists and this music, DO NOT delay and buy this release as soon as you possibly can. Can I give Uptown Records & this CD twenty stars?!?!?!?!?

This previously unknown concert recording from 1945 of one of the greatest groups in jazz history, the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet with Charlie Parker, exceeds the listener's lofty expectations. First, the quality of the music is at the highest level of inspiration, with the innovations of Parker and Gillespie still fresh, new and exciting. Parker and Gillespie are both in astounding form. Second, the quality of the recording is very good--this is easily one of the best recorded live concerts of this era. Third, this release is from Uptown Records, and hence is meticulously prepared and researched. In short, this is an essential jazz recording and one of the great music discoveries of the last fifty years.

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker hooked up in late June of 1945 for this knock-out concert at Town Hall, New York City, maybe for a post-VE Day celebration! With a history somewhat reminiscent of another newly released CD, "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane," these recordings, as acetates, were buried somewhere for sixty years and no one knew they existed in their entirety. Thus, this is the first time the concert has ever been released. Sixty years in the "lost and found!!" Makes one wonder what other treasures are buried out there! I recently read a comment that, "...the discovery of this recording is a Dead Sea Scrolls kind of event." For jazz/bebop lovers, it is so true!

Unlike the Monk/Coltrane find, the quality of this recording is uneven, but the quality of the music is simply superb! The brilliance of young jazz greats Parker's and Gillespie's music shines through. At a time when jazz meant big band sound to most folks, Dizzy and Bird were discovering bebop, and coming out with classics like "A Night in Tunisia" and "Salt Peanuts" for the first time. The quintet's rhythm section, with great bop bassist Curley Russell, percussionist Max Roach and pianist Al Haig, is outstanding! Billed as Gillespie's Quintet, and playing mostly Dizzy's tunes, underrated tenor sax player Don Byas stands in for Bird until the tardy Parker shows for his gig. Big Sid Catlett makes a brief appearance for his solo on "Hothouse." And, as a campy side event, there is commentary by "Symphony" Sid Torin, a famous New York City disc jockey who covered the jazz scene, and introduces, announces and occasionally banters with the musicians and audience.

Dizzy often said, when speaking of his musical collaboration with Parker, that Bird was "the other half of my heartbeat." The famous quote was actually prefaced by the following: "He had just what we needed. He had the line and he had the rhythm. The way he got from one note to the other and the way he played the rhythm fit what we were trying to do perfectly." It is amazingly clear, on this recording, how in sync these two musicians were and are. Their exquisite timing, their humor, their talent and virtuosity - unbelievable!! Gillespie's solo on "Groovin' High" is sublime as is Bird's transition into it.

"Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945" is a remarkable find, a CD for every jazz lovers' collection. To be able to listen to this album and the "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane" CD, (both lost for decades and just released, within a 3 month period of each other), is an amazing gift. The only downside is that the Dizzy/Bird recording is a mere 40 minutes long...but you can play it over and over!

This Uptown Jazz Records presentation includes a 30 page booklet with notes by Ira Gitler, describing how the priceless acetate discs were discovered and turned into this compact disc project. Photos are from the Frank Driggs Collection and reprints of concert reviews from the NYC press. Also included are some technical notes by Ted Kendall, who is responsible for this remastering.
JANA

According to jazz gospel, jazz's Anno Domini is November 1945, when Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie cut several sides including the incredible "Ko Ko". Before then, there was a recording ban that prevented the innovations of the Bebop musicians from being heard. (True, there were some Dizzy Gillespie-led sessions including Salt Peanuts, but they sold so badly that they don't count).

In this version of events, jazz music was totally turned on its head, and the New Testament era of jazz began. When Ko Ko came out in November of 1945, the technical brilliance of the new form of jazz blew everyone away, and the music was changed forever.

But in 2005, this version of events was slightly altered. Finding a complete, live performance of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespi, a full five months before the Ko Ko session, is an astonishing coup. The source of the recording is still rather hazy, with some indications that the anonymous person hoarding them may yet have more to release in years to come. At any rate, this is an astonishing discovery, perhaps even slightly more astonishing than the Monk-Coltrane discovery in the same year.

Dont forget, this is BEFORE the widespread use of tape to record sound (tape was invented in Nazi Germany, and is largely a postwar thing). Also, discs only lasted three minutes a side back in 1945. So you have to imagine some engineers lurking in the Town Hall, with a battery of recording lathes and a pile of fragile lacquer discs, furiously changing discs every three minutes. And yes, they got every note of the concert. Incredibly, the discs were not separated from each other, nor did any of them break over the years! There must have been about twelve or thirteen sides altogether.

Now at last we can hear bebop from before November 1945. The concert is astonishing. I still can't get over Parker's solo on Salt Peanuts, which is really filled with the fresh energy of a newly discovered art form. Another highlight is Night in Tunisia. Both Parker and Gillespie are in terrific form. The crowd seems very appreciative; although the liner notes include a contemporary review which says of Dizzy's music, in effect, "too many notes"! Also, Parker arrives late for the first tune, Bebop; I wonder exactly what he was doing out back?

The sound quality is fantastic. It was far better than I expected. The first few bars of "Bebop" are a bit muddy; but aside from that the sound is the equal of the Royal Roosts, perhaps even slightly better.

So I would heartily encourage anyone to get this disc; whether you are totally new to jazz, or a crusty veteran. The music is very accessible. Music this good, and a discovery that is this historically important, should be heard by everyone!!!

This recording is essential for what it represents, not necessarily for the music or the quality of the recording. It certainly isn't perfect - the sound recording starts poorly and the omnipresence of Symphony Sid becomes tiresome after repeated listenings. We have heard better technical versions of all of these songs.

But as far as capturing an electric moment when the seed of bebop springs to life, this is a momentous recording. Men were making music on this night and the music is singular and powerful. Even more impressive is its recent rescue from basement obscurity. I agree with other reviewers that this is a fine intro to these legends but also is necessary even if you have some of the other live Diz and Bird radio transcriptions. Max Roach sounds like he's providing percussion for one of Tom Waits' 80s recordings and Bird and Diz are filled with ideas. Al Haig sparkles and there are no bebop cliches played by anybody. Essential.

The Gillespie-Parker Town Hall CD is easy to overlook next to Monk-Parker--but that would be a loss. For one thing, the listener to this CD is privy to on-going commentary and intros by legendary jazz and beebop deejay "Symphony Sid"--offering an inside peek at the birth of some innovative tunes. Evidently Parker was (characteristically) late for the show: Sid had given lots of verbal patter to the eager crowd; Parker comes in the auditorium mid-way through the first number; the group doesn't skip a beat! Sid proceeds to tell the audience the music is going to flow rapidly because you folks sure waited long enough, and flow it certainly does--Tunisia; Salt Peanuts--the musicians playing top quality to a very appreciative crowd. Recording quality is fine for the time and place. Highlight: drummer Sydney Catlett stays for an encore despite Sid telling him he's got to be somewhere else. An all-around entertaining and informative birth of beebops by the legends experience

This is definitely an amazing find, and much on the disc truly astounds:

1) The great sound. Yeah, there are a couple of spots where the mikes are off-center, but compared to the usual audio on Bird and Diz live recordings of this time period, it's an audio gem.

2) Max Roach. Max is phenomenal, and it's easy to add "as always," but remember there wasn't much of an "always" yet: both the music and Roach's career were just getting started. He not only has tremendous feel for the music (those bombs of beauty), but plays as if he's already got bebop engraved in his soul. Sid Catlett sits in on HOT HOUSE and takes a fairly long solo, and the difference between him and Max is profound: Sid is an excellent drummer, but Max is an excellent BEBOP drummer who brings a charge to the music Sid can't muster.

3) Diz and Bird and the anthems they play. Bird walks in after BEBOP has already begun, and you wonder when he had time to put his horn together, because he starts blowing as soon as he's in front of a mike. Tempos on all the tunes fly, and it's great to hear the guys take extended solos, especially if you have the 3-minute long recordings etched in your memory. Highlights abound, but the biggest highlight of all is the consistent excellence of the playing by all. Every tune is a gem.

Historically and musically, this CD is a major addition to the modern jazz library. Bird and Diz were inspired musicians at the height of their talents at this time, and it's great to have this recently discovered concert performance to check them out on one more occasion. Brilliant stuff, this.

This concert has never been released previously. Not even on vinyl, which makes it even more mind-boggling that this great concert has been able to escape release for so long. This is Bird and Diz at the top of their game, just when bebop was starting to get big. It's funny how Bird was late showing up for this gig and in the middle of the first song you can hear the crowd cheer as he walks on stage. This album leaves me some hope that there's some more great Bird out there still to be discovered.

Just when the listener thinks that Be Bop has been worn out and has little else to offer, we are presented with lost recordings that, once again, show what all of the fuss was about. This is Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie at the top of their game, giving a seminar on flatted fifths and fast playing.

This discovery is something really exceptional. Its importance is unbelievable. I can't believe to what my ears are listening. Bird in 1945 recorded live with Diz!!!! I mean, this music judged as a 1945 recording is very very well made. Believe me. I have 150 Parker cd's, Benedetti's tapes, Birds Eyes, radio broadcasts, everything, this is among the best live recordings from Birdtogether with Massey Hall (the audio quality is almost the same)! Everything is perfectly clear. You can hear Bird in great shape with a Diz to die for!!! I mean, BIRD! And DIZ! In a never (good) published recording! What can I add more? Is there really something that needs to be said? The program is bebop at its best, I'm completly amazed, guys, I'm listening to this one for the second times, and I'm on my knees! BIRD! DIZ! The opener Bebop is just what genius is all about! Then comes a scaring version of a Night in Tunisia, absolutly stunning, ... and then, all the Bebop anthems, Groovin High, 52 street theme, Hot house etc... Oh mum, I couldn't ask for more neither if I could! When you are in front of a masterpiece, in front of geniuses at work AT THEIR BEST, what can you say? You can only listen, admire and be happy! Parker. Gillespie. I mean .... GODS OF MUSIC. Someone said that here they were not at their maximum, or that Bird and Diz played as if they were waiting for another date, with sufficiency .... What? WHAT? How can you judge Bird's break in Tunisia??? It is absolutly STELLAR! And what about the ending segment of Bebop? That crescendo which ends radically!??! Oh, this is art at his very best, this musicsends shivers down my spine 60 years later!! The quality of this music is no lesser than the one you find in Massey Hall (apart from the contribution from Powell which obviously was superior to Haig, not that Al is out of place here .. ) This is absolutly the best buy you can do actually on the entire Amazon catalogue! I'm not joking guys. C'mon, don't waste a minute. Do the right thing. PARKER AT HIS BEST WITH DIZ, MAX ROACH, and the other guys (Don Byas, Al Haig, Curly Russell, etc)! Don't waste your money ... buy this one. 5 stars? Ridicolous. 1000 stars. How many live recordings THIS GOOD we have from Bird and Diz? You can count them on your fingers. This fact is enough to make this an ESSENTIAL cd for the music lover, for the ones that really CARE for music, that intend music as PURE ART, not something to relax you while your shaving yourself. Ehy Uptown guys, don't you have another one of these concerts? I can't get enought of this one ...