Description

5 x 10 Vinyl Box Set Collecting Five Albums Bird Recorded for Norman Granzs Pre-Verve Imprints Together for the First Time; Audio Remastered from the Original Analog Tapes by Alex Abrash of AA Mastering

Charlie Bird Parker, an architect of modern music nearly universally regarded as the greatest alto saxophonist who ever lived, released five 10-inch LPs via Mercury Records and producer Norman Granzs pre-Verve label Clef Records in the early 1950s. For the first time, these building-blocks of bebop 1950s Charlie Parker With Strings, 1952s Bird and Diz and Charlie Parker Plays South of the Border, 1953s Charlie Parker With Strings (Vol. 2) and 1954s Charlie Parker, have been packaged together in honor of Birds centenary dubbed Bird 100. Parkers complete recordings from this important cornerstone of his career will be released on Verve/UMe as The Mercury & Clef 10-Inch LP Collection. All five records have been newly remastered, pressed to 10 black vinyl, and housed in faithful reproductions of the original packaging.

The boxed set, which features David Stone Martins strikingly illustrated original sleeve art, doubles as a tip of the hat to the 10-inch, a format popular in the late 1940s between the 78 and the 12-inch. It also contains an elegant booklet with rare photos, detailed session information, and essays by pianist-journalist Ethan Iverson and author David Ritz. All of the records included except Bird and Diz have been out of print on vinyl since their original releases more than 60 years ago (although the recent iteration of the album was not the original 10-inch). These attributes make The Mercury & Clef 10-Inch Collection the most detailed, collectible presentation yet of Birds fruitful 1940s-to-mid-50s streak before his untimely passing in 1955 at age 34.

Some jazz-with-strings albums are hit-or-miss; Birds is a grand slam. He seized on the format; his Strings volumes are two of his recorded pinnacles. Vol. 1 begins with his immortal version of Sam Lewis and John Klenners Just Friends, which contains one of the most stirring and technically brilliant improvised saxophone solos ever recorded. Thomas Adair and Matt Denniss cant-catch-a-break lament Everything Happens to Me receives a heavenly lift when Bird sings it on his horn. His take on Rodgers and Harts I Didnt Know What Time It Was shows how Parker could channel a romantic ballad naturally as if breathing. Vol. 2 is just as inspired, conjuring a nocturnal feel via George and Ira Gershwins They Cant Take That Away From Me, Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietzs Dancing in the Dark, and Cole Porters Easy to Love.

Birds most famous foil was the brilliant trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and Bird and Diz is what its title suggests: a portrait of the pair at full tilt. But it has historical and artistic import beyond that: Bird and Diz documents the only joint session with Bird, Diz, and the revolutionary pianist Thelonious Monk, who made intellectual, hard-charging music. Bloomdido, a Parker original that went on to be a standard, is toe-tapping and relentlessly melodic. The percolating melody to An Oscar for Treadwell is traced through the changes to I Got Rhythm in C. Leap Frog, a co-write between Parker and trumpeter Benny Harris is head-spinning in its velocity and quicksilver innovation.

Parker and Gillespie dabbled in Afro-Cuban forms, most notably with the pioneering Latin vocalist and percussionist Machito. South of the Border is a testament to Birds transcultural connection. In Iversons essay, the saxophonist Henry Threadgill notes the rassling match when the modern jazz guys came in and tried to play with the Latin cats in the Forties. Bird, however, did this effortlessly: Charlie Parker could bring the music together, but as soon as Bird stopped, the rassling match would begin again. Parker is in his element here, especially on Óscar Gómez and Albert Hammonds zestful Un Poquito De Tu Amor, Zequinha de Abreus effervescent Tico Tico, and Manuel Ponces yearning Estrellita.

Bird recorded his self-titled album in 1952 and 1953 with two quartets featuring drummer Max Roach: one side with bassist Percy Heath and pianist Al Haig, and the other with bassist Teddy Kotick and pianist Hank Jones. The title is essential because of the strength of its performances, the clean recording quality relative to Birds earlier works, and its singularity as his only studio LP in a quartet setting. Although the end of his life was approaching, Bird more than proves his might on compositions now revered as calling-cards, like Nows the Time, Laird Baird, and Confirmation.

Features:
5 x 10 vinyl box set
Featuring Bird and Diz, Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker Plays South Of The Border, Charlie Parker With Strings and Charlie Parker With Strings (Vol. 2)
Available together for the first time
Audio remastered from the original analog tapes by Alex Abrash of AA Mastering
Reproductions of David Stone Martin artwork
10 x 10 book with exclusive liner notes by Ethan Iverson, an essay by author David Ritz and full track-by-track session notes
Custom slipcase packaging