Collectables Jazz Classics (series)

"Bird" Symbols

by Charlie Parker

Description by OLDIES.com:

Charlie Parker made his recording debut 60 years ago but all of his work still sounds fresh, exciting, and is instantly recognizable as being by "Bird." "Bird Symbols" contains great songs, including two Parker-penned tunes which have become jazz classics: "Ornithology" and "Scrapple From The Apple."

Product Description:

Personnel: Charlie Parker (alto saxophone); Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone); Miles Davis (trumpet); Dodo Marmarosa, Errol Garner, Duke Jordan (piano); Arv Garrison (guitar); Vic McMillan, Red Callender, Tommy Potter (bass); Roy Porter, Harold "Doc" West, Max Roach (drums).

Recorded in Hollywood, California on March 28, 1946 and February 19, 1947 and in New York, New York on October 28 & November 4, 1947.

The sound quality on this album of Parker's Dial mid-'40s Dial material lacks the precision and clarity of his later Verve sessions. Much of the original source material disappeared when Dial went out of business, and, from the remaining masters, a good deal has been lost in the subsequent transfer and re-issue. Still, barring some distortion and a kind of hollow, muffled quality, Parker is in superior form as an artist on these tracks. The mid-'40s seems to be the time Bird hit his stride, and these tracks serve as no subtle reminder that Parker was not only a great innovator, but an incredibly emotional and soulful player, a fact often overshadowed by his technical prowess.

These qualities are highlighted in the collection's ballads "Embracable You," "Out of Nowhere," and "Don't Blame Me," while breakneck bebop workouts are represented as well in "Moose the Mooche," "Bird's Nest" and the dizzying "Ornithology." Parker is joined by a young Miles Davis on many of these sessions, whose acerbic, forward-thinking style provides wonderful balance to Parker's fluid alto. While the sound quality may not be pristine, these are still fine performances; and of interest to Parker collectors searching for his harder-to-procure Dial sessions.