Bird is Free

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Bird is Free
Live album by Charlie Parker

Publication
(s)

1962

Label (s) Parker Records, MGM Records , Jazz Classics

Format (s)

LP / CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

9/31

occupation

production

Doug Pomeroy

Benjamin Davis leaving the Federal Courthouse in New York City (1949)

Bird Is Free is a live album containing recordings of a concert by saxophonist Charlie Parker that took place on September 26, 1952 at Rockland Palace , New York . It was released in the United States in 1962 on Parker Records, in Germany for the first time in 1964 as a single LP on MGM Records , in an expanded form in 1983 as a double album under the title Live at Rockland Palace on September 26, 1952 on Charlie Parker Records . The complete live recording was released in 1996 in a soundly restored version as The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert 1952 .

The album

The Rockland Palace Dance Hall , located 280 West 155th Street , corner of Eighth Avenue was in the 1930s and 40s next to the Savoy Ballroom and the Dawn Casino one of the most famous dance, music and even boxing venues Harlem , up to 5000 Guests took hold. Charlie Parker's appearance took place there as part of an event organized by the American Communist Party and its Daily Worker newspaper for the benefit of the Afro-American activist Benjamin J. Davis, who had been imprisoned since 1949. He had been elected to the City Council in 1943 and was serving a five-year prison sentence for alleged subversion in the course of the McCarthy purges . Therefore a committee had been set up for its amnesty.

On this occasion, too much should not be read from Parker's possible links to the American left, wrote Richard Cook and Brian Morton , and not only because “he was cynical enough to take on every gig, but because the American stance at the time to socialism (in anticipation of the McCarthy Ice Age) was completely relaxed and black musicians of less public notoriety than Paul Robeson were exempt from unjustified attention. " Chan Parker sarcastically commented on her husband's appearance:

"The communists paid better than the capitalists and this was one of his highest paying gigs".

The 3000 or so visitors came mainly to dance and less to hear Charlie Parker because of the comparatively cheap entrance fee. He began his concert initially with string accompaniment, then with his quintet consisting of Walter Bishop junior (piano), Teddy Kotick (double bass), Max Roach (drums) and the guitarist Mundell Lowe , who replaced the trumpeter who otherwise did the solos with Parker alternated.

Besides his Carnegie Hall concert in 1950, it was his only live performance with string accompaniment. In addition to well-known titles from his repertoire such as Ornithology , Moose the Mooche and popular jazz standards such as East of the Sun , What Is This Thing Called Love? , Stardust and I'll Remember April , Parker also played songs like Sly Mongoose, Cool Blues and My Little Suede Shoes , Gerry Mulligan's compositions Gold Rush and Rocker, and a fast-paced version of Lester Young's Lester Leaps In . Parker biographers Peter Niklas Wilson and Ulfert Goeman described the special atmosphere of the evening in Harlem :

The fact that the Rockland Palace was a dance palace is particularly noticeable in the danceable numbers in which the voice and noise level noticeably increases (e.g. Sly Moongoose or My Little Suede Shoes ), while in the over-speed Parker improvisations (e.g. B. Lester Leaps In ) becomes much quieter, so that the choruses and especially the accompanying musicians Bishop, Lowe, Kotick and Roach can be heard better.

Tom Storer explains that Walter Bishop was equipped with a bad piano and that one can hardly hear much of Mundell Lowe's guitar, but that “Max Roach's sounding cymbals shine through the sonic darkness. His flashing reactions and his terrific swing are the engine that drives everything, and Bird is in the foreground of the process, who plays with sheer joy and penetrating aplomb at all times. "

Parker's interpretation of the then popular mambos Sly Moongoose "literally peels out from a noise level," wrote Wilson / Goeman; In his solo on Moose the Mooche , Parker "gets down to business very quickly in his choruses [...], his solo is bursting with ideas and sudden turns, the unleashed Mundell Lowe on the guitar is unfortunately faded out." Harold Arlen's Standard This Time the Dream's on Me “gives an idea of ​​the enthusiasm of the quintet at the time. Lowe's guitar makes the theme sound fuller, more balanced; his 'ideas' appear extremely interesting after Parker's somewhat monotonous performance, comparable to a Jimmy Raney ; while Bishop plays tender and inventive, clearly influenced by Art Tatum and Bud Powell . Parker ends the song in dialogues with Max Roach. "

Editorial notes

Max Roach (1979)

The first publication of concert recordings from the Rockland Palace was based on amateur recordings from the audience, which were, however, very variable in terms of the tape speed . Chan Parker had also recorded the concert privately; the footage came to light while she was working with Clint Eastwood on the Parker film Bird .

Compared to the previously available pressings of the concert recording, the full edition based on it has been soundly restored. The new edition from 1997 benefited sonically from the discovery of the second tape, which was made much more professional and now offers an extraordinary sound, as well as several tracks that did not exist in the earlier version. However, this new tape had a flaw in that it did not contain any solos other than Charlie Parker's. Therefore, during the restoration for the 2-CD edition, the titles were carefully put together from the two existing versions. Although certain cuts are now recognizable, according to Allmusic "this sound restoration not only gives a more complete picture of Parker's music of that evening, but also does so in the best sound image that can be achieved until future sound [restoration] miracles are invented".

The previous editions are:

  • The LP Bird Is Free (Parker Records PLP 401, 1962) with 9 tracks;
  • The LP "Bird" Is Free (MGM Records CP-C 401, 1964) with 9 titles;
  • the double LP Live at Rockland Palace - September 26, 1952 (Charlie Parker CP (2) 502) with 19 tracks
  • the double CD The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert (Jazz Classics, 1997) with 31 tracks;
  • the double CD Complete Live at the Rockland Palace (Rare Live, 2008) with 32 tracks from the Rockland Palace concert and a further 13 tracks (1950–52)

reception

Charlie Parker with Tommy Potter, Miles Davis and Max Roach (photography by William P. Gottlieb , around 1947)

In their Parker biography from 1988, Wilson and Goeman praised the early versions of the recordings that were available to them, which were "surprisingly good for a private recording". "Both the excellent atmosphere in the hall and that among the musicians" was well captured. "Bird's thought flights can hardly be stopped, especially since he can fully play himself here."

Doug Ramsey wrote in JazzTimes' review of the 1997 new edition :

... This two-CD set is compelling not only for the stunning alto solos but for the digital re-engineering that makes the music as listenable as such execrable source material is likely to allow .... This is Charlie Parker enjoying a workday gig playing gloriously for the people.

Ramsey also pointed out the fact that Parker had "one of his best rhythm sections " that night , Walter Bishop, Teddy Kotick and Max Roach. The quintet titles are the only examples in which the other 'horn' in a Parker frontline was a guitar. There are two versions of some songs, such as Just Friends , East of the Sun, Repetition or Rocker , which show "the incessant flow of his imagination".

Tom Storer explains that by the fall of 1952, Parker was already on the path of physical decline that led to his death two years later. Nevertheless, he was still capable of extraordinary performances, as the recordings of September 26th from the Rockland Palace showed. The reviewer particularly emphasizes the merits of Doug Pomeroy, who restored the 44-year-old tapes.

Over time, the ears get used to the high-pitched mood, the relative weakness of the backing band, the fluttering ghostly presence of the strings; Parker's dashing, charismatic alto [saxophone] attracts attention. Similar to many of his live sessions with smaller bands, in which he shows his talent in spontaneous, risky heights in a kind of free-hand expressiveness, Parker remains more cautious here, so as not to conflict with the strings behind him. Rather, this limitation seems to give him energy, whereby he concentrates on making vibrating statements that are consistent with the written out arrangements. He is exuberant, lyrical, nimble, bursting with ideas, with a great expressiveness that the critic Gary Giddins called his 'blues-based vision'.

The critic Cub Koda gave the album four stars in Allmusic and said that Parker may play the same tracks with the string ensemble as in his Verve studio sessions, but his solos are inventive and often differ from the more famous studio versions. He also mentions the bonus track, the "murderously fast" Lester Leaps In , which was created by synchronizing the two tapes, which resulted in "a kind of surround sound stereo " effect, which makes it interesting for listeners. The album is an "important chapter in Parker's musical biography, which is now available in the best sound quality".

Richard Cook and Brian Morton rated the album in The Penguin Guide to Jazz with only three (out of four) stars and pointed out that there was some "good exchange between Bird and Mundell Lowe". The recording does not contain any “classical titles or performances,” but “the general standard of the recording is high and the strings are not too outrageous.” According to the authors, the most captivating are Cole Porter's songs . "Which amazes you how with such an unconstrained and - as you might think, as far as creativity goes - rather stupid opportunity Charlie Parker is nevertheless able to fire solos with such perfect grace."

Track list of the LP (1964)

  • Bird Is Free (MGM 65107)
  1. Rocker (mulligan)
  2. Sly Moongoose (Parker)
  3. Moose the Mooche (Parker)
  4. Star Eyes ( Gene De Paul , Don Raye )
  5. This Time the Dream's on Me ( Harold Arlen , Johnny Mercer )
  6. Cool Blues (Parker)
  7. My Little Suede Shoes (Parker)
  8. Lester Leaps In (Young)
  9. Laura ( David Raksin , Johnny Mercer)

Track list of the double CD (1997)

  • The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert 1952 (Jazz Classics)

Disc 1:

  1. East of the Sun ( Brooks Bowman ) 3:33
  2. What Is This Thing Called Love ( Cole Porter ) 2:26
  3. Stardust ( Hoagy Carmichael , Mitchell Parish ) 4:10
  4. Ornithology (Harris, Parker) 3:12
  5. Easy to Love (Cole Porter) 1:55
  6. Just Friends ( John Klenner , Sam M. Lewis) 2:35
  7. Dancing in the Dark ( Arthur Schwartz , Howard Dietz ) 3:47
  8. Gold Rush (AKA Turnstile) (Mulligan) 4:18
  9. Don't Blame Me ( Jimmy McHugh , Dorothy Fields ) 2:42
  10. April in Paris ( Vernon Duke , EY Harburg ) 3:12
  11. Repetition ( Neal Hefti ) 2:54
  12. Everything Happens to Me ( Tom Adair , Matt Dennis ) 2:10
  13. Sly Mongoose # 1 (Parker) 3:43
  14. Sly Mongoose # 2 (Parker) 1:49
  15. Rocker (Mulligan) 4:28
  16. Laura (David Raksin, Johnny Mercer) 3:29
  17. Lester Leaps In (Young) - (stereo) 4:58

Disc 2:

  1. Out of Nowhere ( Johnny Green , Edward Heyman ) 3:08
  2. I Didn't Know What Time It Was ( Richard Rodgers , Lorenz Hart ) 2:59
  3. Cool Blues (Parker) 2:43
  4. Star Eyes (DePaul, Raye) 3:31
  5. I'll Remember April ( Gene De Paul , Don Raye ) 3:29
  6. My Little Suede Shoes (Parker) 3:23
  7. Repetition (Parker) 5:18
  8. East of the Sun (Brooks Bowman) 2:22
  9. What Is This Thing Called Love (Porter) 2:58
  10. Moose the Mooche (Parker) 7:20
  11. Just Friends (Take 2) (Klenner, Lewis) 4:07
  12. Easy to Love [Take 2] (Porter) 2:09
  13. This Time the Dream's on Me (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) 5:43
  14. Rocker (Take 2) (Mulligan) 2:05

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ compared to the double CD The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert 1952 (Jazz Classics), the album also contains recordings of Charlie Parker's Birdland concerts from 1950 to 1952 (with Duke Jordan (p), Charles Mingus (b), Phil Brown (d ), Red Rodney (tp), Kenny Drew senior (p), Curly Russell (b), Art Blakey (d), Teddy Kotick (b) and Roy Haynes (dr)) as well as intermediate announcements from Symphony Sid
  2. ↑ In the original: Once the ear gets used to the trebly atmosphere, the relative faintness of the back-up band and the wavering, ghostly background presence of the strings, Parker's dashing, charismatic alto soon focuses the mind. Unlike many of his live sessions with small groups, where his genius can be heard in spontaneous, risky flights often delivered with a kind of off-hand panache, here Parker must be careful not to clash with the strings behind him. Rather than box him in, this constraint seems to give him energy, as he concentrates on crafting vibrant statements that work with the written arrangements. He is exuberant, lyrical, swift, bursting out with ideas in a superb expression of what critic Gary Giddins called his "blues-based vision."
  3. ↑ In the original: What one wonders at, though, is Parker's ability to fire off solos of consummate grace on such an unpressured and, one would have thought, creatively stultifying occasion.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Announcement by Parker Records on the Billboard of November 17, 1962
  2. ↑ Charlie Parker - Live At Rockland Palace September 26, 1952 at Discogs
  3. ↑ a b c d Review of the album The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert 1952 by Cub Koda on Allmusic (English). Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  4. ↑ Information about the Rockland Palace in boxrec
  5. ↑ a b c Brian Priestley: Chasin 'the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker
  6. ^ A b Richard Cook & Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 6th Edition, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
  7. ↑ a b c Peter Niklas Wilson & Ulfert Goeman Charlie Parker , Oreos Verlag, Waakirchen 1988, p. 162 f.
  8. ^ A b Tom Storer: Charlie Parker: The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert (1997) in All About Jazz
  9. ↑ Discographic information at Fresh Sound Records
  10. ^ A b Doug Ramsey: Review of the album Charlie Parker - The Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert (1997) in JazzTimes