Customer Reviews

Ultimate Charlie Parker

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The first 5 tracks were recorded live in L.A.with lady be good absolutely astounding-Howard McGhee on trumpet, Lester Young, Arnold Ross.These tracks exemplify the hard core bop which Lester the innovator and Bird the genius fulfills in all promise.The other tracks are studio and always remind me of Picasso, the hard astringent, compelling, innovative, analytic cubist while at the same moment capable of incredible delicate beauty and sophistication.Here Parker is combined with strings and the sweetest of latin melodies and shines to such perfection.Everyone that reviews these CD's reiterates over and again this one or that one is a must.Thankfully for the Parker purist here another that is a must.

I probably have most of these tracks in my collection, but if you believe, as I do, that Bird, despite the "lo-fi" audio quality of 90% of his recordings, practically unfailingly lived up to the myth ('the greatest there ever was"), then practically any new addition to the musical aviary is worth the small effort. Generally, his early work for Dial and Savoy is prized over his later work on Verve, but I'm just grateful that Norman Granz saw fit to capture every possible note played by this indisputable genius at every possible moment. (I'm also glad that I picked up the complete Savoy Masters before they skyrocketed to their current prices.)

Especially noteworthy on the present collection: Bird's solo on "After You've Gone." It's instructive to compare it with the Swing Era's classic version by trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Also, Sonny Stitt practically took the breath away from Dizzy Gillespie with his mid-70s performance (from "Giants of Jazz," documenting the all-star group assembled by George Wein) on "Everything Happens to Me." Indeed, it's masterful playing by perhaps a more perfect (I didn't say "better," "innovative," "complex") player than Bird himself. Listen to Bird's version next to Stitt's, and decide whether Diz was right to be so completely dazzled by Stitt's solo some 30 years after Bird's recording of the same tune.

I can't believe that an afficionado would pick out these tracks. They contain *no* essential recordings and far too much soloing by mediocre sidemen. I wonder if it's because the label couldn't get the rights to the really great stuff.

One disc should contain 15 to 20 Parker tunes, not the handful offered here. Look elsewhere, unless you already own a lot of Bird--for instance to the 1- or 3-disk Savoy and Dial reissues or the Rhino set. It's the Savoy and Dial sessions that everyone raves about.