By: Corey Deines
Artist: Charlie Parker
Title: Bird in Time 1940-1947
Label: ESP Disk
Release Date: 1.25.08
UPC: 825481040501
Territories: World
I Found a New Baby:
Introduction / Ko Ko:
“Bird in Time 1940-1947″ is more than a remarkably extensive collection of rare and extraordinary Charlie Parker recordings; it is a chronological record produced by Bebop Jazz Historian Michael D. Anderson that outlines Bird’s playing and even some of his personal life during the period when he was a leader and pioneer of bebop music. This collection features many tracks with Bird playing with several fellow jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstein, Coleman Hawkins, Cootie Williams, and more. Also included in this unprecedented collection are several interviews with Roy Porter, Max Roach, Teddy Edwards, and even Parker himself illustrating parts of his life and his music.
While many of the musical recordings can be found in other collections, these rare interviews cannot. Because these 105 tracks are in chronological order, it’s intriguing to listen to how the sound quality, as well as Parker’s playing, changes over time. Addicted to heroin and other amphetamines since his late teens, the quality of Parker’s playing slowly began to decline towards the later years in his life- as evidenced by some of the included 1946 recordings. Although there are no recordings of Bird playing his famous (or infamous) Grafton plastic alto saxophone in this collection, there are a few seldom-heard recordings of Parker performing on a tenor saxophone. By virtue of Charlie Parker’s undeniable musical genius, zeal for innovation, and just plain sexy sax playing, this collection of his recordings would be great regardless. The chronological order of the tracks and exclusive interviews, however, are what make this collection truly fascinating because it allows the listener to observe how Bird’s music was influenced by his friends/fellow jazz musicians and personal experiences over a period of time.
Charlie Parker, The Jay McShann Band
“I Found a New Baby” (mp3)
from “Bird in Time 1940 – 1947″
(ESP Disk)
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