Classics 1948-1949

etween December 1947 and November 1949, Charlie Parker realized an incredibly diverse body of work that makes this third installment in the Classics Charlie Parker chronology a serious candidate for "most excellent all-around sampler of Charlie Parker's music." Here's Bird sitting in with a big band arranged by Neal Hefti. Here's Bird in a more intimate setting with Hank Jones, Ray Brown, and Shelly Manne. Here's Charlie Parker's All Stars, the band that played the Royal Roost during the autumn of 1948: Miles Davis, John Lewis, Curly Russell, and Max Roach. The session of September 18, 1948, was unusually fruitful. Each selection is strangely beautiful. "Parker's Mood" is Charlie Parker's ultimate statement on the blues, and should be used whenever someone needs a sample of this man's artistry. (See also Eddie Jefferson's vocal adaptation on James Moody's superb album Flute 'n the Blues.) The harmonically adventurous "Constellation" would reappear years later as Joseph Jarman's wonderfully liberating "Old Time South Side Street Dance." In December of 1948 (just days after Miles Davis quit the band) and January 1949, Charlie Parker sat in with Afro-Cuban mambo maestro Machito & His Orchestra. Two sessions from the spring of 1949 feature trumpeter Kenny Dorham and pianist Al Haig. This outstanding compilation closes with the first of the gorgeous and majestic Charlie Parker with Strings recordings. This is chamber music. "Just Friends" is best of all. If you listen to any of Bird's sessions with strings, let it be this one. ~ arwulf arwulf|