Session details: Washington Music Hall (May 23, 1948)

Charlie Parker session details

May 23, 1948 (14 items; TT = 67:54)

Washington Music Hall, Washington DC

Private recording (Tape) (B)

Show chatter

Charlie Parker (as); Charlie Walp (tpt); Earl Swope (tb); Ben Lary (ts); Sam Krupit (p); Merton Oliver (b); Joe Theimer (d); Art Phipps (b); Buddy Rich (d); Wild Bill Davison (cornet); Benny Morton (tb); Tony Parenti (cl); Jackson Lowe (ann); Willis Conover (ann)

1	Tiny's Blues (T. Dameron)	7:02
	Parker out
2	Introduction (Jackson Lowe)	1:26
	"Thank you very much. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, the fellas are knockin' me out... Uh, here's somebody's gonna knock you out, Willis is bringin' him up right now, I believe -- Buddy Rich... all right, here he is, Buddy Rich... And here's the Bird himself, Charlie Parker... You wanna [undecipherable]... All right... You will now receive explicit instructions on how to put an alto saxophone together. The next number is called... 'Bernie's Tune'..."
3	Bernie's Tune (B. Miller-J. Leiber-A. Stoller)	7:37
	Fragment (1:41) on Philology
4	These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) (incomplete) (H. Marvell-J. Strachey-H. Link)	8:36
	Fragment (2:32) on Philology
5	Introduction (Jackson Lowe)	0:06
	"All right, the next little thing the boys are gonna wrap themselves around is called 'Scrapple from the Apple'... Here it is..."
6	Scrapple from the Apple (C. Parker)	10:16
	Fragment (1:32) on Philology
7	Stage chatter and introduction (Rich, Willis Conover)	0:30
	Conover: "We shall present... Charlie Parker and two of his old, most famous numbers... I'll stall till he gets up here... Rich: "Here he comes now!" Conover: "And here he comes now... Charlie's known as the Bird. Another word for bird lore is 'ornithology', so I think that's the number right now -- 'Ornithology'..."
8	Ornithology (C. Parker-B. Harris)	4:54
	Two fragments (2:22 + 0:44) on LPs and Philology; incomplete (3:13) on Media 7 and RLR
	Conover: "'Ornithology', Charlie -- that's the number right now..."
9	Introduction (Willis Conover)	1:37
	Conover: "Charlie Parker... Buddy Rich... Art Phipps... Sam Krupit... You gonna play another [undecipherable]... We have a request for 'Drum Boogie'... [Laughter] No, we have a request for 'Gene's Boogie'... [Much laughter] We will now pick up the tempo a little bit -- literally... Lowe (?): "We have a request for an announcer." Conover: "We have a request for an announcer? Joe Dosh? Joe Dosh? Where is he? Joe Dosh, stand up... In back -- Joe Dosh... From WOOK, Cliff Holland. Where is he? Cliff Holland... You need some rest? You can collect tax on his [undecipherable]... We will now pick up the tempo a little bit with a number called 'Ko Ko'... This is not the Duke Ellington 'Cocoa', but a 'Ko Ko' that Charlie Parker himself stirred up. Charlie Parker and 'Ko Ko'..."
10	Ko Ko (C. Parker)	6:14
	Incomplete (3:39) on Philology
11	C Jam Blues (D. Ellington)	8:10
	Add Parenti, Lary, Davison, Morton. Fragment (1:40) on Philology; incomplete (3:14) on Uptown
12	Unknown title	1:43
13	Unknown title	5:26
	Preceded by undecipherable announcement and stage chatter (0:22) -- the musicians are discussing what to play next
14	'S Wonderful (G. Gershwin-I. Gershwin)	4:17


1 Tiny's Blues CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55
2 Introduction (Jackson Lowe) CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55
3 Bernie's Tune CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55, Philology Volume 17 (W 847)
4 These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) (incomplete) CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55, Philology Volume 17 (W 847)
5 Introduction (Jackson Lowe) CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55
6 Scrapple from the Apple CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55, Philology Volume 17 (W 847)
7 Stage chatter and introduction (Rich, Willis Conover) CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55
8 Ornithology 12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123 CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55, Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Volume 44 (W 875), Volume 58 (W 889), Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634
9 Introduction (Willis Conover) CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55
10 Ko Ko CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55, Philology Volume 17 (W 847), Philology Volume 43 (W 874)
11 C Jam Blues CD: Uptown UPCD 27.55, Philology Volume 17 (W 847)

The Uptown CD release (with excellent notes by Ron Fritts and Ira Gitler) clears up a number of mysteries about this music. The fragments issued on Philology consist of opening themes and the occasional Parker solo, and are poor quality throughout. (Both Philology and Masters of Jazz -- as well as the prior LP releases on Phoenix 17 and Spotlite 123 -- list this as Parker with the Nat Cole Trio.) A few of the items are still incomplete (e.g. "These Foolish Things"), but the sound is improved over the previous versions, and most of the personnel are identified from the stage. This date was booked as Willis Conover's Jam Session No. 3 - Dixieland vs. Be-Bop, and Parker is in top form.

In addition to clearing up some mysteries, the Uptown release creates one. According to the liner notes, the closing "C Jam Blues" was abruptly ended by leader Wild Bill Davison when Parker laughed loudly offstage:

According to Conover, "Parker laughed so loudly that [Davison] killed the number before it was half over, and would have killed Parker, too, except he hadn't been paid yet."

The Willis Conover archive at the University of North Texas contains an acetate recording made at this concert. It is slightly off-speed, but it contains several items not included on the Uptown CD. One of them is a longer version of "C Jam Blues," which begins where the Uptown version begins, with Parker's solo; but it continues to the end:

0:00 - 1:52 alto saxophone
2:03 - 3:39 clarinet
3:39 - 5:54 tenor saxophone
5:54 - 6:32 piano
6:32 - 7:13 cornet
7:13 - 8:10 out chorus, including applause

The Conover archive recording is available online at https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1531791/#who.

I am grateful to Chieo Yamada and Wasaburo Miura for help with this session.