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Charlie Parker - Bird in Kansas City (Verve)


mjzee

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Is this possibly true:  "Most of the songs included on this forthcoming release, out October 25, have never been heard before and some were not even known to have existed in the first place."  ?

Edited by medjuck
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Intriguing.

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/charlie-parker-bird-in-kansas-city/

My wild guess is

1-3: Charlie Parker playing along with Hazel Scott / Benny Goodman records in 1943? (and removed back sounds by AI or something? I have no idea on these)

4-5: Private recordings by Phil Baxter? (newly discovered? I have no idea on these)

6-7: Maybe some unissued takes of Bird with Woody Herman in 1951? I don't know

8-11: Parker Guitar Trio in 1943 - these are very good ones!  I love these recording.

12-13: Jay McShann Orch. in 1941 (rediscovered in 2012)

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Well, this would appear to be the last two tracks, which indeed have never been issued before (from the Losin discography).  As Mhatta wrote above, they were apparently discovered in 2012.  

I look forward to this release. 

 

February 6, 1941 (2 items; TT = 8:22)
Unknown venue, Kansas City MO
Private recording (Acetate) (B-)

 

Charlie Parker (as); Bernard "Buddy" Anderson (tpt); Orville "Piggy" Minor (tpt); Harold Bruce (tpt); Joe Taswell Baird (tb); John Jackson (as); Harold Ferguson (ts); Bob Mabane (ts); Jay McShann (p); Gene Ramey (b); Gus Johnson (d); Joe Coleman (voc)
 
1 I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (inc) (G. Bassman-N. Washington) 4:23
  Opening theme, vocal chorus, Parker solo (1:52-3:27), vocal (fade out)
2 Margie (C. Conrad-J.R. Robinson-B. Davis) 3:59
  Ensemble introduction, vocal chorus, band chorus + Minor tpt solo, McShann p solo, eight-bar ts solo (3:32-3:43); closing theme

These promotional recordings were rediscovered in 2012, and the masters are in the John B. Tumino Collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Although "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" is incomplete, it includes a beautiful 32 + 4-measure solo by Parker at a relaxed tempo. The relaxed eight-measure solo following McShann's half-chorus on "Margie" is not by Parker. Chuck Haddix claims the solo is by Parker -- Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013), p. 48 -- but it is a tenor saxophone, probably played by Bob Mabane. 

 

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If it´s good I´d buy it, but hope it is not only excerpts and odd things that is more interesting for collectors. 
The earliest Bird I have is the "Early Bird" on Spotlite LP with the Jay McShann Orchestra. Though this is far before the styles of my musical tastes, I love it, since it is very very good, not over commercial swing and they really have a lot of drive and there are already members who played later with Billy Eckstine or with Diz. 

It is in any case something where I can learn something about voicings (the "Wrap up your troubles in Dreams" is just wonderful from them good chords !!!!!) . 

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(Kansas City, MO) — Today, on modern jazz pioneer Charlie Parker’s heavenly birthday, Verve Records announces Bird in Kansas City, an album featuring a new set of rare recordings dating from between 1941-1951, to be released globally this October 2024 on vinyl, CD, and digitally and available to pre-order now. Much of this collection has never been heard before and some recordings have never even been known to exist — Bird in Kansas City chronicles Charlie Parker’s evolution from a blossoming soloist with the Jay McShann Band into a brilliant improviser who changed the genre forever.

 

To celebrate the announcement of Bird in Kansas City, the first track, “Cherokee,” is available now.

 

Chuck Haddix — scholar and author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, who also produced and wrote liner notes for this album — says, “‘Ray Noble’s ‘Cherokee’ was one of Bird's favorite songs. Whenever he showed up late for a gig, he would make a grand entrance through the front door playing ‘Cherokee.’ Taken at a bright tempo, Charlie takes wing with a melodic solo that deftly navigates the song’s challenging chord changes.”

 

In addition to two unreleased 78s with the McShann band, Bird in Kansas City offers two sets of private recordings — at the home of Parker’s friend Phil Baxter and at Vic Damon’s studio— made with local musicians and a very relaxed-sounding Parker who has the room to stretch out and show us the shape of jazz that was to come in his wake.

 

Central to these recordings is Parker’s relationship to his hometown of Kansas City, a place he never lived again once he left in 1941 but remained deeply important to him; his mixed emotions owed to the city’s history of racial segregation and to his strong ties to his family and friends there. Though he never returned permanently, he frequently came home during breaks in his travels, and it is during those times that these recordings were made.

image-58c91923808c48bf878009b34901d594-full.jpg

Photo courtesy of the Driggs Collection, Jazz at Lincoln Center.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
4 hours ago, medjuck said:

BTW Peter Losin thinks it's not Bird soloing on Margie.  I agree with him.  (He thinks it's a tenor "probably Bob Mabane" .)

I’m finding a brief announcement about the disc on Losin’s site, and the actual discographical data on another page. Am I missing where he discusses the contents? — particularly about “Margie”? (Or maybe I overlooked it.)

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1 hour ago, medjuck said:

Ah, thx! Didn’t think to try and look up each individual session (or that didn’t come up searching on plosin and the title of the CD).

(As much as I use Peter’s site for Miles info, I should have realized his Bird stuff was organized the same way.)

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