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Track List

1 Au Privave 02:40
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
2 K. C. Blues 03:26
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
3 She Rote 03:11
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
4 Swedish Schnapps 03:16
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
5 Laird Baird 02:46
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
6 The Song Is You 02:58
    by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II (T.B.Harms Co.)
7 Kim 03:00
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
8 Why Do I Love You 03:07
    by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II (T.B.Harms Co.)
9 My Little Suede Shoes 03:05
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
10 Fiesta 02:51
    by Cal Massey (Second Floor Music)
11 Lover Man 03:23
    by Roger “Ram” Ramirez, Jimmy Davis, Jimmy Sherman (Universal Music Publishing Group)
12 Blues for Alice 02:48
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
13 Begin the Beguine 03:11
    by Cole Porter (Chappell & Co.)
14 I Can't Get Started 03:09
    by Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin (Chappell & Co.)
15 What Is This Thing Called Love 02:38
    by Cole Porter (Harms, Inc.)
16 Almost Like Being in Love 02:35
    by Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner (Sam Fox Publishing Co.)
17 I Remember You 03:04
    by Victor Schertzinger, Johnny Mercer (Paramount Music Corporation)
18 Confirmation 02:58
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
19 Chi-Chi 03:04
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
20 Now's the Time 03:02
    by Charlie Parker (Atlantic Music Corp.)
21 I Love Paris 05:08
    by Cole Porter (Chappell & Co.)
22 Love for Sale 05:32
    by Cole Porter (Chappell & Co.)

Total Time: 70:52

About Sessions 1951-54

Charlie Parker's final years were remarkably varied. Between 1951 and 1954, he recorded with small bebop groups, Latin percussionists, large studio orchestras, singers and strings, and some of the finest rhythm sections of his generation. The recordings collected here may appear almost random at first sight, but together they form a revealing portrait of Parker during the last four years of his life.

By 1951, Parker had already changed the vocabulary of jazz. The revolutionary language of bebop was no longer new, however. Parker was now a mature artist working within a musical world that he himself had helped create.

The first three performances here — “Au Privave,” “K. C. Blues” and “She Rote” — were recorded in New York on January 17, 1951, with Miles Davis, Walter Bishop Jr., Teddy Kotick and Max Roach. The reunion with Davis is historically significant. Their partnership had been central to Parker's music in the late 1940s, and these recordings show that the musical dialogue between the two remained remarkably strong. The performances also demonstrate Parker's continuing interest in writing new melodies over familiar harmonic structures.

Only two months later, Parker entered a very different musical environment. On March 12, 1951, he recorded “Why Do I Love You?”, “My Little Suede Shoes” and “Fiesta” with Walter Bishop Jr., Teddy Kotick and Roy Haynes, joined by percussionists Luis Miranda and José Mangual. The session has a distinct Latin character, particularly in “My Little Suede Shoes” and “Fiesta.” Parker was clearly interested in the rhythmic possibilities of Afro-Cuban music, an interest that would continue to appear in his recordings during the Granz years.

The August 8, 1951 session brought another change of personnel. At RCA Victor's 24th Street Studios in New York, Parker recorded with Red Rodney, John Lewis, Ray Brown and Kenny Clarke. “Blues for Alice,” “Swedish Schnapps” and “Lover Man” belong to this session.

“Blues for Alice” is particularly important in Parker's development as a composer. Its harmonically sophisticated blues progression became known as the “Bird Blues” changes and has subsequently become an important part of the jazz vocabulary. Parker's blues writing could be deceptively simple on the surface while containing sophisticated harmonic movement underneath.

The January 1952 recordings again demonstrate Parker's willingness to work with different settings. “Begin the Beguine,” recorded with Walter Bishop Jr., Teddy Kotick, Max Roach and percussionists Luis Miranda and José Mangual, comes from a session devoted largely to Latin-flavoured material.

On March 25, 1952, Parker moved to the opposite extreme. “I Can't Get Started,” “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and “Almost Like Being in Love” were recorded with a large studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Joe Lippman. The ensemble included four trumpets, three trombones, five saxophones in addition to Parker, and a rhythm section featuring Oscar Peterson, Freddie Green and Ray Brown.

These recordings demonstrate something important about Parker's career. He was not confined to the standard bebop quintet. He could place his alto inside a large arranged ensemble without losing his individual voice. The contrast between the written backgrounds and Parker's improvisations is one of the defining characteristics of this period.

Later in 1952, Parker returned to a small group. On December 30, at Fulton Recording in New York, he recorded “The Song Is You,” “Laird Baird” and “Kim” with Hank Jones, Teddy Kotick and Max Roach.

The titles themselves carry a personal dimension. “Laird Baird” was associated with Parker's young son Baird, while “Kim” refers to Kim Richardson, Chan Parker's daughter. When Chan moved in with Parker in 1950, she brought three-year-old Kim with her. Parker subsequently became an important father figure in Kim's life.

By 1953, Parker was again working in a compact quartet. The July 28 session at Fulton Recording produced “Chi-Chi,” “I Remember You,” “Now's the Time” and “Confirmation,” with Al Haig, Percy Heath and Max Roach.

There is a striking historical irony here. “Now's the Time” had first been recorded by Parker in 1945, when bebop was still in its formative stage. By 1953, the piece had become part of the established Parker repertoire. “Confirmation,” meanwhile, remained one of his most sophisticated compositions, its harmonic design continuing to challenge musicians long after the recording was made.

The recordings of 1951–53 must also be understood against the difficult circumstances of Parker's personal life. His heroin addiction and alcohol abuse continued to affect his health and professional stability. Yet it would be misleading to reduce these years to a story of addiction alone. Parker continued to record, tour and experiment with new musical settings, and his playing remained capable of extraordinary invention. The Smithsonian notes that despite the deterioration of his physical health, his influence on jazz and American music was already profound.

His family life was also deeply important. Parker lived with Chan Richardson, and they had children together. Their daughter Pree died in 1954, a devastating loss that coincided with an increasingly difficult period in Parker's life. The University of Missouri–Kansas City documents the subsequent deterioration of his personal circumstances and his increasing dependence on friends and acquaintances for accommodation and support.

The final recordings represented here were made on December 10, 1954, at Fine Sound Studios in New York. Parker was joined by Walter Bishop Jr., Billy Bauer, Teddy Kotick and Art Taylor for two Cole Porter compositions: “I Love Paris” and “Love for Sale.”

These recordings belong to the sessions that became Parker's final studio album, Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter. Norman Granz had suggested that Parker record an album devoted entirely to Porter, resulting in sessions in March and December 1954.

There is something poignant about hearing Parker in this setting. The repertoire is associated with the Great American Songbook rather than with bebop originals, yet Parker's approach remains unmistakably his own. The melodies are familiar, but the phrasing, harmonic conception and rhythmic placement transform them into personal statements.

By 1954, however, Parker's life was becoming increasingly unstable. His health had deteriorated badly, and his professional situation had become precarious. In 1954 he made two suicide attempts and spent periods in Bellevue Hospital. His relationship with Chan had broken down, and he increasingly depended on friends for support.

In his final months, one of those friends was Baroness Pannonica “Nica” de Koenigswarter, the European jazz patron who had become a close friend of many musicians, including Thelonious Monk. Parker eventually sought refuge in her suite at the Stanhope Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York.

On March 12, 1955, Charlie Parker died there. He was only thirty-four years old.

The official account cited pneumonia, although Parker's long history of substance abuse, severe physical deterioration and other medical problems formed the broader context of his death. His physician and the coroner were so struck by the condition of his body that Parker's age was initially estimated at between fifty and sixty.

Parker's death did not end his influence. In New York, musicians, poets and artists began writing the words “Bird Lives” on walls and sidewalks. The phrase became a fitting epitaph for a musician whose recorded life had been extraordinarily brief but whose musical language had already become part of the foundation of modern jazz.

The recordings in this collection therefore represent more than the final years of a great saxophonist. They show Parker continually moving between musical worlds: from Miles Davis to Latin percussion, from small bebop groups to large studio orchestras, from personal compositions to the songs of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and other writers of the American popular song tradition.

There was no single “late Parker” sound. There was simply Charlie Parker — still searching, still experimenting.

Credits

Charlie Parker – alto sax

Tracks 1–3:
Recorded January 17, 1951 — New York City
Miles Davis – trumpet
Walter Bishop Jr. – piano
Teddy Kotick – bass
Max Roach – drums

Track 4, 11–12:
Recorded August 8, 1951 — RCA Victor's 24th Street Studios, New York City
Red Rodney – trumpet
John Lewis – piano
Ray Brown – bass
Kenny Clarke – drums

Tracks 5–7:
Recorded December 30, 1952 — Fulton Recording, New York City
Hank Jones – piano
Teddy Kotick – bass
Max Roach – drums

Tracks 8–10:
Recorded March 12, 1951 — New York City
Walter Bishop Jr. – piano
Teddy Kotick – bass
Roy Haynes – drums
Luis Miranda – congas
José Mangual – bongos

Track 13:
Recorded January 23, 1952 — New York City
Walter Bishop Jr. – piano
Teddy Kotick – bass
Max Roach – drums
Luis Miranda – congas
José Mangual – bongos

Tracks 14–16:
Recorded March 25, 1952 — First Avenue and East 44th Street, New York City
Jimmy Maxwell – trumpet
Carl Poole – trumpet
Al Porcino – trumpet
Bernie Privin – trumpet
Bill Harris – trombone
Lou McGarity – trombone
Bart Varsalona – bass trombone
Harry Terrill – alto saxophone
Murray Williams – alto saxophone
Flip Phillips – tenor saxophone
Hank Ross – tenor saxophone
Danny Bank – baritone saxophone
Oscar Peterson – piano
Freddie Green – guitar
Ray Brown – bass
Don Lamond – drums
Joe Lippman – arranger and conductor

Tracks 17–20:
Recorded July 28, 1953 — Fulton Recording, New York City
Al Haig – piano
Percy Heath – bass
Max Roach – drums

Tracks 21–22:
Recorded December 10, 1954 — Fine Sound Studios, New York City
Walter Bishop Jr. – piano
Billy Bauer – guitar
Teddy Kotick – bass
Art Taylor – drums