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Charlie Parker 'Now's the Time'


Son-of-a-Weizen

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The Verve edition sounds mighty fine:

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nows-Time-Remastered-Charlie-Parker/dp/B0000069NB/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1269847676&sr=8-3

Might be even better sounding version though.

The edition below is the one I've been eyeing....and it (or so I thought???) just contains tracks from 1953. The additional ones found on the edition you've mentioned are all from the late 40's aren't they? (Star Eyes, Blues, I'm In The Mood For Love, Bird, Celebrity, Ballade, Cardboard, Visa). Sorry that I was not totally clear about this from the outset. I should have posted these pictures earlier.

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Some of the individual cds do have better sound, including the disc josber posted. You should get that one. BTW the art scans you posted were from a Columbia Record Club issue - notice the "crc" on the back.

You should buy the Bird and Strings single on Verve too.

Chuck those two VMEs one should get in addition to the 10CD set?

Any others that are decidedly better-sounding than what's in the box?

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You make an interesting point. Can't say that I'm exactly fired up to hear the Parker & strings session....but it's probably the way to go. I assume you're talking about the 3-disc master takes box rather than the 10 disc box?

I meant the 10 disc set. Perhaps I'm too free with someone else's money, but it's in the air.

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There's a japanese hybrid SACD version (UCGU-7034) that was released in 2004:

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http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/2383

1 Song Is You

2 Laird Baird

3 Kim

4 Kim (Alternate Take)

5 Cosmic Rays

6 Cosmic Rays (Alternate Take)

7 Chi-Chi

8 Chi-Chi (Alternate Take)

9 Chi-Chi (Alternate Take)

10 I Remember You

11 Now's the Time

12 Confirmation

(one take of Chi-Chi is missing on this one)

It sounds very good (warmer and more lively than the VME CD), but I don't think the nevertheless limited sound quality deserves spending the current OOP prices on it (I bought it for $20 at the time)

For many Verve titles, the early CD releases sound better than the VMEs, so it's worth checking out the CD posted above.

Edited by Claude
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I can't speak to the sound quality questions at the heart of this thread, but I do want to say something about musical quality. Brownie mentions the 1945 "Now's the Time" as definitive, and while it's certainly more historic, I would say that the five choruses that Bird plays on the 1953 version are more inspired -- the tempo is faster, the fluidity and distillation of his language is remarkable, big chunks of the solo remain part of the common vocabularly and the overall spontaneity and spark all make this one of Bird's greatest studio recordings. I would say the same about the rest of the material on "Now's The Time," with a special nod to the master take of "Chi Chi," a blues in the unusual key (for Bird) of A-flat and which contains some of his loftiest ideas on the blues that really get away from his familiar licks that tend to show up when he's in B-flat or F (the key of "Now's the Time"). Also, the rhythm sections, more sympathetic than on other Verve dates, play beautifully and are very well recorded -- they sound quite comfortable in the idiom and modern by this point in a way that they don't in the '40s.

As for "Bird with Strings," these recordings have always been disparaged in some circles, but for me they contain some of my favorite Bird. You get to hear Bird play more standards rather than just blues and "rhythm," and his melodic improvising, loose rhythmic phrasing and singing sound reach levels of complexity and rapture here that he didn't get to in other contexts. The string arrangements may sound corny to our ears, and in an earlier day they were seen as "commercial." But if you isolate on what Bird plays on things like the famous studio version of "Just Friends" and all of the live recordings with strings, the plush curtains of double-time melody, density of rhythm and variety of phrasing create solos that to me sound fresher and more contemporary than lots of other Bird (contemporary in the sense that you could play the same things today and not be accused of just playing Bird licks).

Context matters. Bird took the strings seriously and the sound behind him put him in a different space, inspiring unique ideas and a unique sound. Even on tunes where he's essentially decorating the melody, the way he's able to work all of his fancy curlicues and 16th-note commentary in between the phrases of the written melody, so the tune is never far from front and center, is thrilling -- at least to me.

Edited by Mark Stryker
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