Bird's Eyes. How many volumes are there?

[Hardbopjazz]

Does anyone know the number of volumes in the Bird's Eyes releases? 

[JSngry]

They've got 28 showing here: https://www.discogs.com/label/1540457-Birds-Eyes

[Hardbopjazz]

Yeah, I checked that list before. I have volumes up to 98 with gaps between some. Those missing volumes I've never seen, and makes me wonder do they actually exist.

Example, I have volumes 70 to 76, but I could never find volumes 77 to 79. I have volumes 96 and 98, but none from 80 to 95.    

 

Here is a listing of volumes 26 through 157. If these exists, I've never seen any of the higher numbers for sale. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14IWFyhe2T22jSrRRZ_UKWfYCVikRiCo_/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Hardbopjazz

[mjzee]

They still have a website: https://philologyjazz.wordpress.com/about/

and a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/philologyjazz

The last post on the Facebook page was in 2012.

[Ken Dryden]

I had heard that Philology owner Paolo Piangiarelli had a nervous breakdown. The last time that I tried emailing him a few years ago it bounced back as undeliverable.

I wish him well, as he was a devoted jazz fan but he struggled to get American outlets to publish reviews of his CDs. After AllMusic.com quit assigning them, I had little luck pitching them to anyone else.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Philology CDs seemed very hard to find in the US even they were still an active enterprise.

[Ken Dryden]

Cadence carried a lot of them for years in their catalog.

[Quasimado]

I see founder/ owner Paolo Piangiarelli died Jan 2 2022. The label was probably best known for its Bird's Eyes series (well over 100 rare/ historical releases, a Lester series, and numerous recordings of Konitz, Phil Woods, Chet Baker and various European musicians etc. RIP

[mhatta]

RIP.   I know Paolo Piangiarelli and his Philology label, but didn't know much about the man himself.  Very interesting life indeed.

https://www.italy24news.com/entertainment/news/120669.html

Bird's Eyes, Prez's Hats, Brownie's Eyes, Unissued Chet...their edits are usually sloppy and quite dubious about recording info & copyright, but always important and interesting.  An aspect of Jazz has gone.

Edited February 1, 2022 by mhatta

[Ken Dryden]

I met Paolo Piangiarelli at the 2004 IAJE in NYC. He was excited about the young alto saxophonist Francesco Cafiso, as was Phil Woods. He was a good-hearted man who poured his heart and soul into his label.

[Gheorghe]

I´ve heard of those Bird Eyes and maybe saw a few of them, but maybe they were not very common here in Austria or in Europe.

I wasn´t really a collector or completist. As a fan and musician I mostly "studied" the current available material, the master takes on Savoy and Dial, the really exiting live performances with Diz and others at Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Massey Hall. The Verve´s to a lesser amount. Bird and Diz was not as sharp and exiting as other meetings of them two, Swedish Schnapps is quite ok, but a lot of other stuff somehow bored me....
So I have not really every thing, but those who seemed to be relevant for me for studying and to learn about the bop style, Bird´s lines , the bop repertory etc..... 

[John L]

The higher number Bird's Eyes were only available by mail order.  They were kind of a mess, repeating a lot of the music contained on the earlier volumes as well as music available on CD elsewhere.   I don't have any of the numbers beyond 28.  But looking at the listed music, there is probably only a handful of tracks on the higher number Bird's Eyes that I don't have.  

[Quasimado]

Paolo also had these interviews of musicians who worked with Bird on cdrs, which I regret not following up and have never seen/ heard anywhere.   (The Al Haig interviews on 80 & 82 may be duplicates).

BIRD'S EYES 63  apparently contains a tape of Bird's 'Blindfold Test' with Leonard Feather

BIRD'S EYES VOL. 78
RAY BROWN INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD September 20,1989 44'
RED RODNEY INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD April 22, 1982  4'
DIZZY GILLESPIE INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD June 15, 1984 10'

BIRD'S EYES VOL. 79
HOWARD MC GHEE INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD 61'
WIELERT DOODLEY INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD 3' (W.D. worked for King Sax Company and repaired Bird's Sax)

BIRD'S EYES VOL. 80                                                                                                                                                                                       AL HAIG INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD August 1973 41''
DUKE JORDAN INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD August 19 37'

BIRD'S EYES VOL. 81
MAX ROACH INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD September 1989 39'
BARRY ULANOV INTERVIEWED ABOUT BIRD August 1973 27'
 

 

BIRD'S EYES VOL. 82                                                                                                                                                                                       AL HAIG INTERVIEW ABOUT BIRD 08.73 / 41 MIN 27

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Quasimado
formatting

[Ken Dryden]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:37 PM, mhatta said:

RIP.   I know Paolo Piangiarelli and his Philology label, but didn't know much about the man himself.  Very interesting life indeed.

https://www.italy24news.com/entertainment/news/120669.html

Bird's Eyes, Prez's Hats, Brownie's Eyes, Unissued Chet...their edits are usually sloppy and quite dubious about recording info & copyright, but always important and interesting.  An aspect of Jazz has gone.

The link leads to an error message, has the article been removed?

[mhatta]

10 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

The link leads to an error message, has the article been removed?

Hmm, there was a nice obit but now seems gone.

[romualdo]

this is a comprehensive list of the Bird's Eyes CDs/CDrs - note that the later releases were CDrs

http://birdparkerslegacy.com/CPCD/CD_miura/AlbumPhilology.html

 

[Quasimado]

Nice List - thanks for that. I have one up to CDr 82 that I got from somewhere - I can't recall - but it's an un-formatted mess ...