Leo Parker

[Durium]

LEO PARKER

His best recordings

Rollin'With Leo

Keep swinging

Durium

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

YES! YES! A MOTHERFUCKIN' KILLAH!

(And his best is really extraordinarily good indeed!)

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

He's no slouch either on his first BN album "Let Me Tell You 'Bout It",

and his "Billy In The Lion's Den" with Bill Jennings on King as well as all of his earlier 78 rpm leader outings for Savoy, Chess, Gotham, etc. are all worthwhile

He is one of those whose recordings I've always bought unseen-unheard; as I love both bebop AND R&B of the 40s/50s his presence is good reason enough for me any time.

Edited February 7, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[White Lightning]

A good one. Actually, I'm partial to "Let Me Tell You 'Bout It". Dizzy really plays there?

[Shawn]

I prefer Let Me Tell You 'Bout It myself...always wanted to hear Billy In The Lion's Den but have never been lucky enough to run across it.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

A good one. Actually, I'm partial to "Let Me Tell You 'Bout It". Dizzy really plays there?

Not according to anyone I've asked, including Michael Cuscuna. I believe that he asked Dizzy himself. There is no evidence that John Burks is a "nom de session" for Dizzy.

[Kyo]

The CD seems pretty hard to find. Maybe they'll reissue it some day.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

The CD seems pretty hard to find. Maybe they'll reissue it some day.

Believe me, I've been asking and asking and asking - every time I talk to Blue Note about reissues. Apparently, Leo's music has not sold well for Blue Note. That carried over to the CD era. The CD issue of "Rolling With Leo" was probably only in print for about 2 years in the late 80s. Since the Japanese have not seen fit to release it, it should have a market. But still, it sits.

A lot of bari sax fans are missing out on a great, swinging date.

[Big Al]

I love LMTYABI, and really wish I could hear Rollin' with Leo. Maybe I'll be as fortunate as durium and find a used LP of it sometime!

[robviti]

according to amg (i know, i know): Trumpeter John Burks worked under Johnny Hodges, Louis Bellson, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson.

[JohnS]

Bill Jennings 'Billy In The Lion's Den' I have that somewhere. Thanks for the reminder, another one to dust off. Love those Blue Notes.

[jostber]

Leo is a groover! Love that baritone sound.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

There's no bad Leo Parker, but "Rollin'" is the one that gets me.

He made a fair bit of stuff for Savoy in the forties. Mostly, that's been reissued under the names of his sidemen - Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons. But he was really playing on those, too.

It's really a shame that his records didn't sell better. I think Leo was the main victim of the popularity of the wet coast musicians, particularly Gerry Mulligan, who generally got credited as THE Bebop bari, instead of Leo, to whom the props reightly belong.

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

I can't see Gerry Mulligan being credited as THE bebop baritone sax man (not even Serge Chaloff. But what about Cecil Payne?)

Not Bebop. In fact Gerry Mulligan was lumped in with West Coast Jazz to an extent that he himself refuted. As he often insisted, he did not consider himself a typical protagonist of of the West Coast movement.

Let's face it, one main reason why Leo Parker did not go further was simply - DOPE.

Unfortunately ...

[BruceH]

I can't see Gerry Mulligan being credited as THE bebop baritone sax man (not even Serge Chaloff. But what about Cecil Payne?)

Not Bebop. In fact Gerry Mulligan was lumped in with West Coast Jazz to an extent that he himself refuted. As he often insisted, he did not consider himself a typical protagonist of of the West Coast movement.

Let's face it, one main reason why Leo Parker did not go further was simply - DOPE.

Unfortunately ...

His untimely death couldn't have helped, either.

[sidewinder]

Leo is a groover! Love that baritone sound.

And that cover is an absolute classic !

Great album by the way. Unjustly neglected.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I can't see Gerry Mulligan being credited as THE bebop baritone sax man (not even Serge Chaloff. But what about Cecil Payne?)

Not Bebop. In fact Gerry Mulligan was lumped in with West Coast Jazz to an extent that he himself refuted. As he often insisted, he did not consider himself a typical protagonist of of the West Coast movement.

Let's face it, one main reason why Leo Parker did not go further was simply - DOPE.

Unfortunately ...

You're right - I misremembered a quote - here 'tis, complete with sammidge.

"although interest in the baritone saxophone has centred around Gerry Mulligan in recent years the work of the lte Serge Chaloff should not be forgotten. Chaloff was the first musician to transcribe Charlie Parker's ideas for use on the larger saxophone..."

Even so...

(And no doubt you're right about drugs, Steve.)

MG

[Tom in RI]

My favorite Leo Parker is on the Chess lp "The Late Great Baritone" which has sessions from 51-53, good sessions and better fidelity than his dates from the '40's. I don't think this has been out on cd. Back to Back Baritones on Collectables is also worth getting, it can be had for cheap, although I never listen to the Sax Gill sides.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

One of the things I really like and find very interesting about Parker is that, although he was a bopper through and through in terms of his style, his SOUND was that of an R&B honker. Had he wished, he probably could have been as big a name in R&B as Paul Williams. But he obviously didn't want to play that kind of thing.

MG