Personnel includes: Charlie Parker (alto saxophone); Jimmy Carroll (conductor, arranger); Gene Johnson, Freddie Skerritt, Willie Smith (alto saxophone); Jose Madera, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young (tenor saxophone); Leslie Johnakins (baritone saxophone); Mario Bauza, Paquito Davilla, Bobby Woodlen, Dizzy Gillespie, Red Rodney, Buck Clayton, Miles Davis (trumpet); Mitch Miller (oboe); Bronislaw Gimpel, Max Hollander, Milt Lomask (violin); Frank Brieff (viola); Frank Miller (cello); Myor Rosen (harp); Al Haig, Stan Freeman, Rene Hernandez, Thelonious Monk, Hank Jones, Walter Bishop, Jr., John Lewis, Ken Kersey (piano); Irving Ashby (guitar); Percy Heath, Ray Brown, Roberto Rodriguez, Curly Russell, Teddy Kotick, Billy Hadnott (bass); Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Roy Haynes, Kenny Clarke (drums); Jose Mangual (bongo); Luis Miranda (congas); Umbaldo Nieto (timbale); Machito (maracas); Neal Hefti's Orchestra.
Recorded in New York, New York and Los Angeles, California between 1946 and 1953. Includes liner notes by Harvey Pekar.
Charlie "Bird" Parker is one of the giants of 20th century music. Alto saxophonist Parker combined what he had learned from the blues, swing, classical, even country music with a harmonic and rhythmic adventurousness that became known as bebop, becoming one of the greatest soloists in jazz history. Many musicians that played with Parker went on to make jazz/music history themselves: Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Kenny Dorham, among others. THE ESSENTIAL gives a wonderful cross-section of the music Parker recorded for Verve Records from 1946 to 1953. You get Bird in quintets with Monk, Buddy Rich, and Dizzy Gillespie ("Relaxing With Lee"), in a wailing jam session with Coleman Hawkins and Buck Clayton ("I Got Rhythm"), fusing bop and Afro-Cuban/Latin music with Machito's big band ("Mango Mangue"), and sailing sweetly with a string section ("Just Friends"). Not sure where to start with Parker, or with bebop or post-swing-era jazz? The answer is in this album's title.
