Charlie Parker Open Door on Ember

[Quasimado]

Just picked this double CD on the British Ember label. Apparantly it was recorded live by Chan in 1953, and sold to Columbia in the 70's. The Ember release dates from 2000. To my ears this is pretty fine Bird with a good rhythm section (Haig, Mingus, A.T. plus Benny Harris on trumpet, although he is mainly edited out). Bud also gets a mention, but does not seem to play.

Has this ever seen US release?

(Apologies if this is old news - I did a search ...)

Q

[paul secor]

Not sure if it ever saw a U.S. release, but I don't believe so. Some of the best live Bird ever recorded.

[Bright Moments]

where is/was the open door?

[jazzbo]

NYC

From this page: http://www.nathanielturner.com/charlieparker.htm

The other Bobs who indulged wisely in the flaming feathers of Charlie Parker back in those Beat G days were Bob Parent, a very good photographer and hipster, unlike Fred MacDarrah who wasn’t hip at all to jazz or Bird, but Fred did produce two valid books: The Beat Scene and The Artists World, plus started a lucrative business of Rent A Beatnik. Another Bob was Robert C. Reisner, a hipster who taught jazz at Brooklyn College and ran the hippest weekend jazz club in New York at that Beat G time: The Open Door, at the corner of west Broadway and 4th Street, in the Village. Gilbert Milstein for being hip enough to recognize the merits and the avant garde living conditions Kerouac’s On the Road warned America. He reviewed the book for the N.Y. Times Book Review 1957.

[jeffcrom]

I bought the Ember release in a U.S. CD store years ago. To me, there's something special about Bird's live recordings from the early fifties, say 1950-53. There is a controlled abandon, a willingness to take chances, that doesn't show up in his studio recordings, great as they are. By 1954-55, some of his live recordings sound kind of tired. I like the Open Door set, although I would like to hear more of Benny Harris.

[Guest youmustbe]

I have a lot of Bob Parents photos....including fform the Open Door, other photos of Bird as well as Monk, Bud etc. For my book. Also the Carole Reiff photos of Chet...lots of photos of audience...I told Dan Morgenstern today I bet he's in on eof the audience photos, since he used to go to open door. Before my time.

[John L]

I believe that this first appeared on two volumes of Birds Eyes on Philology. I picked it up right away, and was blown away. Anybody who argues that Bird already didn't have it in 1953 should listen to this recording first.

[Denis]

Wonderful set. I echo Jeff's comments about Bird's live recordings. Over the years I have collected most of them.

I used the Piet Koster & Dick M. Bakker discography, which was very valuable.

Thanks also to Bob Parent for those wonderful pictures of Bird at the Open Door.

How many nights did I look at these pictures of Bird, Roy Haynes, Charlie Mingus and Monk and just heard the sound in my head.

But now luckily thanks to Chan it's all there.

Of course the band is different on the Ember records but the feeling is the same. Of note, Al Haig which can be heard in there.

Thank you.