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Charlie Parker at Birdland, 1950


Lazaro Vega

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I already have the complete Birdland recordings on Ember, no longer in print.

282702.jpg

That "female" vocalist "Chubby Newsome" is something else. :rolleyes:

I also had that Columbia double LP. There is a bunch more material from that engagement than was on the LP, which was from the Boris Rose archive.

No idea, but's it's one of the many Spanish boot/grey market labels... that might be all you want to know.

With material of this provenance I don't see why that would be a problem.

Edited by Pete C
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I already have the complete Birdland recordings on Ember, no longer in print.

282702.jpg

That "female" vocalist "Chubby Newsome" is something else. :rolleyes:

I also had that Columbia double LP. There is a bunch more material from that engagement than was on the LP, which was from the Boris Rose archive.

With material of this provenance I don't see why that would be a problem.

I have that too. But is it just Vol 1 and there's another, even harder to find volume 2 (iirc with additional material from Cafe Society)?

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Thanks fellas -- have the Columbia double lp, but was wondering about these other things, if they're from the same hit, or filler from somewhere else, etc....

The Bird-Fats date would appear to be the first disc and tracks 1-4 on the second. Judging from the set list, most of the rest comes from an earlier Feburary 14 date at Birdland. Unless they tracked down a new tape (very doubtful), that part is just Bird solos and heads in pretty bad sound. But Bird still sounds very inspired on the February tape.

Edited by John L
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That "female" vocalist "Chubby Newsome" is something else. :rolleyes:

Believe it or not, that vocalist

1) actually WAS female,

2) actually went by that name (and by the subtitling moniker "Hip shakin' Mama").

Haven't heard the tracks on the above set so cannot comment on what she sounds like there but at any rate she was no imposter, imitator or latter-day crossbreed of Frankie Half-Pint Jaxon or his ilk. :D

And on the cover of Official 6020 LP "The Orignal Hip Shakin' Mama" (which includes her studio output from 1948 to 1957) she appears to be fairly good-looking, actually.

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That "female" vocalist "Chubby Newsome" is something else. :rolleyes:

Believe it or not, that vocalist

1) actually WAS female,

2) actually went by that name (and by the subtitling moniker "Hip shakin' Mama").

Haven't heard the tracks on the above set so cannot comment on what she sounds like there but at any rate she was no imposter, imitator or latter-day crossbreed of Frankie Half-Pint Jaxon or his ilk. :D

And on the cover of Official 6020 LP "The Orignal Hip Shakin' Mama" (which includes her studio output from 1948 to 1957) she appears to be fairly good-looking, actually.

I don't have as complete and issue of this material as some of you - the only vocal track I have is "Embraceable You." The vocal is credited to Chubby Newsome, but it's obviously Little Jimmy Scott. Does the same vocalist perform on other tracks?

Edited by jeffcrom
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more information about the birdland recordings is found in the book:"the music and life of theodore "fats" navarro, infatuation" by leif bo petersen and theo rehak (scarecrow, 2009). the audience tapes are made by bill hirsch, he was a government contractor and sound engineer who pioneered and specialized in early reel-to-reel tape devices....it is now thought that the boris rose birdland material from the first half of 1950 is the result of hirsch´s experiments with tape recordings on location. his friend rose dubbed them to disc for sale to collectors, finally selling a selection of the parker/navarro items on disc to an enthusiatic bruce lundevall, then at columbia, for commercial issue. (according to the wonderful navarro book, page 311/312.

keep boppin´

marcel

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I have that too. But is it just Vol 1 and there's another, even harder to find volume 2 (iirc with additional material from Cafe Society)?

This is it:

http://www.amazon.com/At-Cafe-Society-Downtown-Birdland/dp/B000059T6J

I have it. It's great. This session in particular is wonderful:

Charlie Parker Quintet

Charlie Parker (as) Milt Jackson (vib) John Lewis (p) Percy Heath (b) Kenny Clarke (d)

"Birdland", NYC, November 1, 1952

How High The Moon

Embraceable You -

52nd Street Theme

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I already have the complete Birdland recordings on Ember, no longer in print.

282702.jpg

Have that one, too!

No idea, but's it's one of the many Spanish boot/grey market labels... that might be all you want to know.

With material of this provenance I don't see why that would be a problem.

This kind:

Note the assertion that the Columbia LP/CDs are off-speed.

- they notoriously don't care... often they don't even wait long enough (after grabbing stuff from dime) to be able to offer better quality sources that turn up after a recording is thrown into the "pond".

The first form I had this material in were two Cicala LPs... dreadful quality, but it was ear-opening stuff for the teenager I was back then!

Here's the cover of the second volume (the first, I think, is identical but with pink or violet instead of yellow):

parkernavarrobirdfatsvo.jpg

I also heard the live material by Miles' tuba band on such an LP... and have a Dodo Marmarosa, too.

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So, chances are the Spanish re-issue at the top of the thread is a non-speed corrected direct boot of the Columbia?

I'm not saying that... I just want to mention that it might.

Another example: the Lonehill release of the Miles Amsterdam concert runs a half step wrong, too, btw... (guess the old Celluloid did already).

I don't know either if the Fat Boy/Ember or what it's called (the 4CD set pictured above) runs at correct speed, but it does seem that this guy Bregman (?) who was involved with the Ember discs, was some kind of Parker authority... (he also helped putting out the complete Chicago disc with the amazing Freeman guitar!)

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'This guy Bregman ?' is Robert M. Bregman who co-authored the Charlie Parker Discography that was published in 1993 by Cadence Jazz Books before the internet killed most of those books

DGyardbirdinc2.jpg

Bregman also was very much involved with the Bird's Eyes series from Philology Records!

Respect for Monsieur Bregman <_<

Edited by brownie
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Sorry, didn't want to be disrespectful... just posting from work, wasn't even sure I got his name right. But these Ember sets sure look nice! There are two 2CD sets (one of which would have easily fitted onto one CD, timings on the tray card are totally off - hope that's not just my copy but a general error there!), then the amazing Chicago 1950, and finally the Birdland 1950/51 4CD set. Some great Bird between these! And I think Bregman wrote the notes and comments.

btw, brownie, it's indeed Bregman, not Bergman!

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There was an Archive of Jazz and Folk LP which had a few tracks from the 1950 Parker/Navarro/Powell date which was one of the first Parker recordings I owned (you could pick these up at department stores for $1.99). In those days (early seventies) neither the Savoys nor the Dials were easily available in New Jersey! It also included a few tracks from the Royal Roost (including the wonderful White Christmas). The Ornithology from this session quickly became and has remained one of my favourite recordings. After Parker's astonishing opening phrase you can hear someone with a high pitched voice shout "Go baby!" Petersen and Rehak suggest that it might be Little Jimmy Scott's voice, picked up by the mike... An amazing moment; audio verite from the dim, distant past... And Bud is on fire!

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There was an Archive of Jazz and Folk LP which had a few tracks from the 1950 Parker/Navarro/Powell date which was one of the first Parker recordings I owned

Me too. I was also wild about that version of Ornithology, but it was eventually superseded by a Montreal version (on Uptown, previously a bootleg) that's smoking. I bought lots of stuff on that label, including Mingus's Minor Intrusions. A bunch have been showing up again on a label called Grammercy:

http://www.grammercy.com/app/albums/search/&genre=Jazz

In the '70s I bought the complete Bird on Savoy on Saga.

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