bird of paradise

I give up, we have more new Charlie Parker than I can listen to today. According to my player there’s 11 hours and 33 minutes left, and I haven’t even gotten through the Complete Savoy Sessions. The first thing I went for was the jam session with Chet Baker. The first four tracks are the meat of the album, with a 22-year old-Chet sounding particularly driven. Last three tracks are for completists only, as they are only partial recordings.

The quintet with Miles is of course a classic, that came on right after the Chet Baker both to hear the contrast and because this album has “Barbados,” which is one of his best melodies.

I am most of the way through 1952 Legendary Jam Session, and the sound quality as well as the playing is fantastic. Great long tracks too, everyone has plenty of room to stretch out. The Verve masters are packaged very nicely, as Bird with Strings, Great Quintets and Latin Sides show.

It’s really overwhelming to have this much great Parker available in a single shot, if you don’t know where to being I would recommend the Dial Sessions as a great starting point. Recorded right after Bird finished his stay at Camarillo, it’s some of his most inspired work.