The date of this short telephone interview is uncertain. According to the Leigh Kamman Legacy Project it was conducted in 1954, but I suspect this is incorrect. Parker's daughter Kim answers the phone. Kamman mentions a recent Birdland gig at the beginning of the interview, and that Parker is "go[ing] down to Birdland for a big session tonight" at the end. Perhaps this is the stretch where Parker was booked at Birdland with members of the Modern Jazz Quartet -- parts of the November 1, 1952 performance were broadcast by WJZ and recorded by Boris Rose.

More importantly, Parker mentions having run into Chet Baker and Frank Morgan "two-three months ago" in California. In June Parker played with Baker at the Trade Winds Club, and in mid-July Parker, Baker, and Morgan attended a wild party at Jirayr Zorthian's ranch in Altadena. Parker left California and returned to New York in August, after the birth of his son Baird. It seems likely that this interview took place sometime in the autumn of 1952.

The text of the interview, in the course of which which Parker discusses young jazz musicians and his favorite classical composers (Bartok and Stravinsky), is available elsewhere on this website.