Von Freeman with Bird?

[Lazaro Vega]

Charlie Parker

Rec. October 23, 1950 at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom, Chicago. Inferior sound because the tape was recorded off of a dressing room speaker, and some items are marred by conversation.

Charlie Parker (as), unknown (voc 1), Von Freeman (ts), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d)

Early set:

Indiana

I Can't Get Started

Anthropology

Out of Nowhere

Get Happy

Late set:

Hot House

Embraceable You -1

Body and Soul -1

Cool Blues

Stardust -1 [inc]

All the Things You Are [inc]

Billie's Bounce

Pennies from Heaven [inc]

Last set:

There's a Small Hotel

These Foolish Things [inc]

Keen and Peachy [inc]

Hot House [inc]

Swivel Hips (perv. IDed as Bird, Bass, and Out) [inc]

Goodbye [inc]

BIRD SEED

Stash CD STB 2500

Recorded in the Pershing Hotel, Chicago on October 23, 1950 where the Von Freeman group was the house band.

Charlie Parker (as), unknown (voc), Von Freeman (ts), unknown (tb), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d)

Pennies from Heaven (Johnston/Burke) (2:55)

Note: This is session no. 133 in John C. Burton's Charlie Parker discography. Robert Campbell informs me that the last set which contains Swivel Hips, a song composed by Claude McLin and recorded by his band for Chess and therefore that makes it pretty unlikely that Von was in the band for that set.

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Charlie Parker

BIRDBOX VOLUME 8 (CD)

Charlie Parker (as), unknown (voc 1), Von Freeman (ts), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d)

1. Indiana (5:57)

2. I Can't Get Started with Country Gardens Tag (2:49)

3. Anthropology (5:20)

4. Out of Nowhere (2:48)

5. Get Happy (5:36)

6. Hot House (5:06)

7. Embraceable You (2:01)

8. Body and Soul (2:16)

9. Cool Blues (3:15)

10. Stardust (:57) - v

11. All the Things You Are (3:08) - v

12. Billie's Bounce (3:13)

13. Pennies From Heaven (3:21)

Notes from Robert Campbell: Edited to Bird solos. I don't think this is the same night as the following, more famous, session, but likely the same gig.

Info from Bregman, Bukowski and Saks, The Charlie Parker Discography, published by Cadence Jazz Books, 1993:

All titles from the first two sets were released on Zim ZM 1003 (LP) and JUTB CD 3008. All titles from the last set released on Savoy LP SJL 1132 and Savoy

CD 4423 as well as JUTB CD 3008. Partial titles (prob. just "There's a Small Hotel, which runs 10 or 11 minutes) on Savoy Jazz CD-0154.

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Charlie Parker

ONE NIGHT IN CHICAGO

Savoy SJL 1132 (LP)

Rec. October 1950 at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom, Chicago on a private tape

Charlie Parker (as), Von Freeman (ts), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d)

1. There's a Small Hotel (10:09)

2. These Foolish Things (2:06)

3. Keen and Peachy (4:53)

4. Hot House (9:00)

5. Bird, Bass and Out (Rhythm tune) (3:34)

6. Goodbye (with voiceover) (3:08)

Notes from Robert Campbell: This set was issued in 1960 in edited form by Savoy (MG 12152) as "An Evening at Home with the Bird," which has been reissued on CD by Denon and includes items 1-4 with some editing and duplicating. An excellent live session. The recordings of the horns and guitar are very good fidelity. A definitive version of Hot House. On the original issue, the tenor solo was repeated on Small Hotel, as was Bird's solo on Foolish Things, and the closing Keen and Peachy theme was grafted onto the beginning. Other solos are edited out, and appause is added. The later LP issue apppears to use the complete source tape undoctored. The tenor player could be Claude McLin. Bird, Bass and Out starts at the Bird Solo, and there is a riff head played by the Tenor. This is probably some original tune from the backup band's book with a real name. Goodby is some kind of a very morose closing theme. This may be part of the same night's performance as the previous session, but there is no overlap of tunes. I tend to doubt that is the case.

(Does that mean it could be Claude McLin for the whole she-bang?)

[Niko]

Von Freeman himself on the issue: "Now, a lot of people don't know whether it was Claude McLin on "These Foolish Things" or myself. There were several tenor players that were on these different jobs, and they were mostly using my rhythm section. And I really can't tell whether it's myself either, because almost all of us were trying to play like Lester Young at the time, because that was the thing to do if you were able at all."

from here:

http://www.jazzhouse.org/nlib/index.php3?read=panken12

[Lazaro Vega]

Thanks, Niko. So then it is Von on the titles other than These Foolish Things?

[John L]

Thanks, Niko. So then it is Von on the titles other than These Foolish Things?

I don't think that is clear. Philology and the Lord discography list Von Freeman for the early set and Claude McLin for the late set (the one that appeared on the Savoy discs "An Evening at Home (sic!) with the Bird" and "One Night in Chicago.") That might be very difficult to verify, however, as the only early set performances that I have heard are only heads and Bird solos. It doesn't sound like Von on the late set, which is probably why many people think that it is McLin. But we don't have any other Von Freeman from around 1950 to compare it to. And Von himself seems to say (thanks for that interesting quote, Niko) that he did play that way back then!

Edited October 5, 2010 by John L

[Chuck Nessa]

I have no direct information about the players, but have the following info to add to the discussion.

The speculation about Claude McLin was started by Bob Porter who refused to believe it was Von. Von says he's not sure but his brother George swears it is him. Somewhere in my collection are some very early Freeman recordings where he sounds nothing like his mature style - he sounds like a Lester Young disciple. After that period, he played alto for a while and sounded like Bird. When he reverted to tenor he sounded like Von Freeman.

Back in the mid-'70s I copied this material from recordings in Von's personal collection.

BTW, Von turned 88 on Sunday - a celebration is taking place tonight at the New Apartment Lounge.

[AllenLowe]

interesting, because I recently listened to that stuff, and thought about how well McLin played - and thinking now that it was probably Von, makes it even more interesting.

[Chuck Nessa]

I suspect Johnny Griffin followed a similar path - tenor (Lester), alto (Bird), tenor (Griff).

[AllenLowe]

well, Prez was so pervasive - my favorite musical moment:

Dave Schildkraut, New Haven, 1978, on tenor. Plays a little classic (late) Prez phrase, like on those live dates that have been bootlegged everywhere - both Bill Triglia, on piano, and Curley Russell (in the audience) exclaim, at virtually the same time, "yeah!"

it was like a family reunion.

(and this a few months after Dave called me up, playing one of those Prez records over the phone, and told me "this is where I went to college."

Edited October 6, 2010 by AllenLowe

[Lazaro Vega]

Blue Lake Public Radio is featuring Von tonight, too, in celebration of his birthday.

Thanks for the responses. Will probably steer clear of this material on the radio this evening.