Search - Charlie Parker :: Jam Session

Bird at play

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 09/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album comes as a pleasant surprise on several levels. I thought my collection of Charlie Parker recordings was as complete as it needed to be--most of the Dial and Savoy masters and alternate takes, lots of air shots, the fabled solos on "Embraceable You" and "Night in Tunisia," and of course the historic Massey Hall concert, later billed as the "World's Greatest Jazz Concert." But as impressive as all those recordings are, they distance the listener in ways that may fuel the cult aura surrounding Bird and contribute to his legendary status but hardly atone for my inability to see and hear him performing live. The truncated solos of the 78 rpm recordings, the very "lo fi" audio, the predictable bebop repertory all served to provoke and tantalize as much as satisfy curiosity about his genius."Jam Session" is the only album I've heard that presents Charlie Parker in familiar company with room to stretch out and with microphones capable of capturing the moment with the versimilitude expected by today's listeners. Supported by Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown and sharing solo space with 4 progenitors of the saxophone, all of whom would ironically outlive him, Bird sounds both relaxed and in control, a musician who doesn't need to prove anything to anybody, but just playing for the fun of it. It's a rare, humanizing glimpse of a legend who proves no less mortal than his bandmates."

Jazz the Prez way more than the Bird way.

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 07/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an absolutly marvellous example of what Jazz was and still should be (not because it's more mainstream than bebop, in any case I love them both). The joy of playing with friends on common grounds, the standards and blues repertoire. I think I own everything Bird has ever played/released or at least I come really near. All the Dial, Savoy, Verve, Benedetti recordings, Bird's Eyes, Live & Broadcasts, Blue Note concerts, recent discoveries, almost everything (more than 150 cds). This album cannot be considered a pure Bird album because he shared the scene with a lot of other sax stars which gave the session a different feeling from a lot of Bird's records. I mean that this album is more Jazz "the Kansas City way" than bebop. It is a session more traditional than bebop. The only true beboppers are Bird, Kessel and Peterson (and Brown of course). The others, Webster, Hodges, Carter etc are more traditional than strictly bebop so the overall sound is more on that side of course. But it's not a complaint, only an obvious consideration. The album is really fresh and entertaining, you can compar eit to a lot of JATP sessions in a sense. So it's not a "revolutionary" album, not one that set a standard or that marked a change in Jazz history, nevertheless it's essential in its way. It is a perect representation of what Jazz was more at Lester Young time than Bird time, but it's very very good. It deserves 5 stars absolutly. Every player shined here and found his time to strecht out and show his bags of tricks fully. One of the highlights is the comping by Oscar Peterson swing machine which gave to the session a fabolous imprinting. The program is damn good. Two very long blues tunes, a very beautiful standard ("What is this thing" one of the standards I love the most) and a ballad medley. Fantastic! And even if Bird is playing more or less his usual cliches and nothing more, he's still Bird! I love this album, for real. Buy it, you will love it for years and years too."

Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter all on one!

John Asendorf (jasendorf@solarstop. | Ohio, USA | 03/07/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you play the saxophone, THIS IS A MUST HAVE ALBUM! If you like the saxophone this is a really, really should have album. Norman Granz produced many of his JATP (Jazz at the Philharmonic) titles featuring top names. This recording is akin to those. Johnny Hodge's solo on Funky Blues is featured above in the recording and it is so great! I can't believe that the listing on this CD doesn't talk about having Parker, Hodges, Carter, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips, Charlie Shavers and an All-Star rhythm section. BTW, there are really only FOUR (4) tracks on this CD. One of them is a medley of the ballads, each player being featured on a tune."