Charlie Parker with Strings

Last updated
Charlie Parker with Strings
Charlieparkerwithstrings.jpg
Compilation album by
ReleasedJanuary 24, 1995
Recorded1947–1952
Genre Jazz, third stream
Length76:18
Label Verve
Producer Norman Granz
Charlie Parker chronology
Charlie Parker on Dial
(1993)
Charlie Parker with Strings
(1995)
Complete Charlie Parker on Dial
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Charlie Parker with Strings is the name of two separate albums by jazz musician Charlie Parker, released in 1950 on Mercury Records. It is also the name of a 1995 compilation album released by Verve Records, containing all the tracks from both the 1950 albums, as well as additional material. The sessions place Parker in the context of a small classical string section and a jazz rhythm section, rather than his standard bebop quintet. They were Parker's most popular sellers during his lifetime, and were admitted to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988.

Contents

Content

Under the auspices of producer Norman Granz, Parker fulfilled a long-held desire to record in a string setting. [3] [4] Plans were made to release the results of the sessions as a ten-inch LP. Sessions from November 30, 1949, yielded the first Charlie Parker With Strings album (Mercury MG-35010), consisting of six songs total, all of which were standards.

The success of the first album led to additional sessions on July 5, 1950, resulting in another long-playing album also entitled Charlie Parker With Strings (Mercury MGC-109), consisting of eight tracks, also all standards.

In 1995, Verve Records reissued these fourteen recordings for compact disc, including an additional ten tracks with Parker also accompanied by strings. Five date from a Carnegie Hall concert on September 17, 1950; four more from an additional studio session in January 1952, and the last from Granz's The Jazz Scene limited edition 78 rpms recorded in Carnegie Hall in December 1947 with Neal Hefti.

Legacy

There is some controversy regarding the impetus for Parker to record standards, rather than his original compositions, in settings of this kind as a bid for greater commercial exposure. Certainly Mercury Records did not object to this idea, although biographical sources indicate Parker himself instigated the sessions. However, they were instrumental in creating a vogue among jazz musicians for recording in a similar fashion: see Clifford Brown with Strings in 1955, and Focus by Stan Getz in 1961, among others.

In 2014, in New York, saxophonist and bandleader Aaron Johnson produced an historically accurate recreation of the Charlie Parker with Strings albums. [5] [6]

Original album track listings and personnel

Charlie Parker with Strings (Studio recordings of Nov. 30, 1949)

Released on 10" as Mercury MG-35010, reissued as MG C-501 and then MG C-101 [7]

  1. "Just Friends" (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis) – 3:30
  2. "Everything Happens to Me" (Tom Adair, Matt Dennis) - 3:15
  3. "April in Paris" (Vernon Duke, E.Y. Harburg) – 3:12
  1. "Summertime" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) – 2:46
  2. "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 3:12
  3. "If I Should Lose You" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) - 2:46

[8]

Charlie Parker with Strings (Studio recordings of July 1950)

Released on 10" as Mercury MGC-509, reissued as MGC-109.

  1. "Dancing in the Dark" (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) - 3:10
  2. "Out of Nowhere" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman) - 3:06
  3. "Laura" (David Raksin, Mercer) - 2:57
  4. "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" (Brooks Bowman) - 3:37
  1. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) - 3:17
  2. "Easy to Love" (Cole Porter) - 3:29
  3. "I'm in the Mood for Love" (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields) - 3:33
  4. "I'll Remember April" (Gene de Paul, Pat Johnston, Don Raye) - 3:02

[9]

1995 reissue bonus track listing and personnel

Along with above released as Charlie Parker with Strings: The Master Takes, Verve 314 523 984-2

  1. "What Is This Thing Called Love?" (Porter) - 2:55
  2. "April in Paris" (Duke, Harburg) - 3:13
  3. "Repetition" (Neal Hefti) - 2:48
  4. "You'd Be So Easy to Love" (Porter) - 2:25
  5. "Rocker" (Gerry Mulligan) - 3:00
  1. "Temptation" (Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed) - 3:31
  2. "Lover" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) - 3:06
  3. "Autumn in New York" (Vernon Duke) - 3:29
  4. "Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young, Ned Washington) - 2:56
  1. "Repetition" (Hefti)- 2:57

Other releases on vinyl

The history of the vinyl releases is a complex one. Other early vinyl releases besides those on Mercury were on Clef Records (Norman Granz's label, later absorbed into Verve) and Verve Records (also founded by Norman Granz, and the predecessor of Mercury). Besides the 10" 33 RPM records, there were releases on 10" 78 RPM (box set) and on 7" 45 RPM records.

For a reference to other releases of the songs on Mercury MG-35010 see https://web.archive.org/web/20160107195934/http://bird.parkerslegacy.com/CPws/ws491130.html and for Mercury MGC-109 see https://web.archive.org/web/20120825171441/http://bird.parkerslegacy.com/CPws/ws5008_09.html (missing a reference to MGC-109). MG-35010 was reissued as Mercury MGC-501 and Clef MGC-501; and Mercury MGC-109 as Mercury MGC-509 and Clef MGC-509. The cover of the MGC-109 and MGC-509 releases is not always the same, sometimes it is identical with MG-35010, and sometimes it shows birds. [10]

Clef Records MGC 675 was an early (or the earliest) 12" release and had the same cover as MG-35010 but the following, differing content:

Just Friends
Everything Happens To Me
April In Paris
Summertime
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
If I Should Lose You

You Came Along From Out Of Nowhere
East Of The Sun
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Easy To Love
I'm In The Mood For Love
I'll Remember April

The same songs, but in a different order were released on Verve MGV 8004 (also Verve V6-8004) "The Genius Of Charlie Parker, #2 - April In Paris" Other songs are on Verve MGV 8003 "The Genius Of Charlie Parker, #1 - Night And Day", and on MGV 8000, "The Charlie Parker Story #1".

In 1974, Verve Records (MV 2562) released a live version called "Charlie Parker With Strings – Midnight Jazz At Carnegie Hall". Other later live and studio releases exist, most of them on compilation albums.

A special Charlie Parker With Strings: The Alternate Takes was released on Record Store Day 2019. This edition, available in record stores only on April 13, 2019, contained numerous alternate takes not used on the previous vinyl releases, and was presented on a bright blue vinyl LP. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois Jacquet</span> American jazz tenor saxophonist

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo. He is also known as one of the writers of the jazz standard "Don'cha Go 'Way Mad."

<i>Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book</i> 1959 box set by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book is a box set by American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald that contains songs by George and Ira Gershwin with arrangements by Nelson Riddle. It was produced by Norman Granz, Fitzgerald's manager and the founder of Verve Records. Fifty-nine songs were recorded in the span of eight months in 1959. It is one of the eight album releases comprising what is possibly Fitzgerald's greatest musical legacy: Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Complete American Songbook, in which she recorded, with top arrangers and musicians, a comprehensive collection of both well-known and obscure songs from the Great American Songbook canon, written by the likes of Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer.

<i>Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book</i> 1961 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book is a 1961 album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with a studio orchestra conducted and arranged by Billy May. This album marked the only time that Fitzgerald worked with May.

<i>Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1</i> 2003 compilation album by Ella Fitzgerald

Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1 is a 2003 compilation album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. The album contains all the singles Fitzgerald recorded for Verve Records label between 1956 and 1965.

<i>Bird and Diz</i> 1952 studio album by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie

Bird and Diz is a studio album by jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. It was recorded primarily on June 6, 1950, in New York City. Two tracks featured on the original pressing, "Passport" and "Visa", were recorded by Parker, without Gillespie and with different personnel than the other tracks, in March and May 1949. The album was originally issued in 1952 in 10" format as a collection of 78 rpm singles on the Verve subsidiary label Clef Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Parker discography</span>

This is a list of recordings by American jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker ("Bird"). Parker primarily recorded for three labels: Savoy, Dial, and Verve. His work with these labels has been chronicled in box sets. Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial Sessions have been issued on The Complete Savoy Sessions, Charlie Parker on Dial and Complete Charlie Parker on Dial and The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes. His Verve recordings are available on Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve and The Complete Verve Master Takes.

<i>Count Basie at Newport</i> 1957 live album by Count Basie and his orchestra

Count Basie at Newport is a live album by jazz musician Count Basie and his orchestra. It was originally issued as Verve MGV 8243 and included only the tracks 1-7 and 13. Tracks 9-12 originally included in Count Basie & Joe Williams/Dizzy Gillespie & Mary Lou Williams at Newport.

<i>Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve</i> 1990 box set by Charlie Parker

Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve is a 1990 box-set by jazz musician Charlie Parker. It features every extant note Parker recorded for labels controlled by Norman Granz as well as his appearances at Jazz at the Philharmonic. Parker recorded for Granz primarily in the last five years of his life, a period during which, besides playing with his famous quintet, he experimented with strings, Afro-Cuban jazz and mixed chorus. Among the albums produced during Parker’s Verve years were Bird & Diz, Charlie Parker with Strings, and Swedish Schnapps.

<i>The Astaire Story</i> 1953 studio album by Fred Astaire

The Astaire Story is a 1952 album by Fred Astaire. The album was conceived of and produced by Norman Granz, the founder of Clef Records, who was also responsible for the Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, at which all of the musicians on the album had performed.

<i>Songs for Distingué Lovers</i> 1958 studio album by Billie Holiday

Songs for Distingué Lovers is an album by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released in 1958 on Verve Records. It was originally available in both mono and stereo. It was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles from January 3 to January 9, 1957, and produced by Norman Granz.

<i>Krupa and Rich</i> 1956 studio album by Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich

Krupa and Rich is a 1956 studio album by jazz drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, released on Norman Granz' Clef Records. Krupa and Rich play on two different tracks each and play together only on "Bernie's Tune." Krupa and Rich would record again for Verve Records; their album Burnin' Beat was released in 1962.

<i>Lester Young Trio</i> 1951 studio album by Lester Young

The Lester Young Trio and The Lester Young Trio No. 2 are jazz trio albums by Lester Young with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich, recorded in Hollywood, California, in March–April 1946, with the first four tracks being released in 1951.

<i>Stay with Me</i> (Billie Holiday album) 1958 studio album by Billie Holiday

Stay with Me is an album by the jazz singer Billie Holiday, accompanied by Tony Scott and his Orchestra. It contains all the material from a session recorded February 14, 1955, in New York City, and released in 1958 on producer Norman Granz's Verve label.

<i>The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio</i> 1955 studio album by Lester Young, Buddy Rich

The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio is a jazz trio album recorded in Hollywood, California in March and April of 1946 by Lester Young, Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich.

This is the complete discography of the main 12-inch (8000) series of LPs issued by Verve Records, a label founded in 1956 by producer Norman Granz in Los Angeles, California. Alongside new sessions Granz re-released many of the recordings of his earlier labels Clef and Norgran on Verve.

<i>Dance Bash</i> 1956 studio album by Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra

Dance Bash is a studio album by Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra released on Verve Records LP record MGV-2007 in 1956.

<i>Stan Getz Plays</i> 1955 studio album by Stan Getz

Stan Getz Plays is an album by jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, recorded in 1952 released on the Norgran label in 1955. The album features tracks that were previously released on two 10-inch LPs on Clef Records.

<i>Big Band</i> (Charlie Parker album) 1954 studio album by Charlie Parker

Big Band is a 1954 album by Charlie Parker of sides recorded in 1950 and 1952. In 1999 Big Band was reissued with bonus material and outtakes.

<i>Music for Loving</i> 1954 studio album by Ben Webster

Music for Loving is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster with tracks recorded in 1954 and released by Norgran in 1955. The album was reissued in 1957 by Verve as Sophisticated Lady. In 1996 Verve released a double CD compiling the album with another Norgran LP, Music with Feeling, and one by Harry Carney, Harry Carney with Strings which was first released by Clef.

<i>The Jazz Scene</i> 1949 jazz album compiled by Norman Grantz

The Jazz Scene is a 1949 compilation album edited by Norman Granz, featuring recordings from Ralph Burns, Duke Ellington, George Handy, Coleman Hawkins, Neal Hefti, Machito, Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips, Bud Powell, Willie Smith, Billy Strayhorn and Lester Young.

References

  1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r145093
  2. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1118. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  3. Priestley, Brian (2005). Chasin' the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker. Equinox. p. 75. I asked for strings as far back as 1941, and then, years later, when I went with Norman, he okayed it.
  4. Haddix, Chuck (2013). Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker. University of Illinois Press. p. 125. Charlie excitedly embraced the project, feeling that recording with strings legitimized his music.
  5. "Aaron Johnson". ReverbNation.
  6. Johnson, A. M., "Initiation, Adepthood, Contact: Charlie Parker as Mystic, Higher Intelligence and Interdimensional Entity", Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, September 2020.
  7. Mercury Records Collection.
  8. "Studio recordings of Nov. 30, 1949". Archived from the original on 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  9. "Studio recordings of late summer, 1950". Archived from the original on 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  10. Charlie Parker album covers, among which the two versions are shown.
  11. Rough Trade