1 I Found a New Baby
12" LP: Onyx 221, Spotlite SPJ-120
CD: Stash STCD 542, Masters of Jazz MJCD 78, Philology Volume 38 (W 869), ESP-Disk 4050, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1331

2 Body and Soul
12" LP: Onyx 221, Spotlite SPJ-120
CD: Stash STCD 542, Masters of Jazz MJCD 78, Philology Volume 38 (W 869), ESP-Disk 4050, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1331

These recordings were discovered in the 1960s by Frank Driggs, and were long thought to be Parker's earliest recordings.

At the time, Bud Gould was working with the house band at station KFBI. After hearing the McShann group at the Trocadero Ballroom, Gould invited McShann to make a vanity recording in the KFBI studio, which was unbooked in the days following Thanksgiving. The recordings were done without the approval of the musicians' union, and the band members were not paid. The recordings were made on 16" acetates and were lost until the 1960s, when they were discovered by Driggs and eventually released in 1974 on the Onyx label.

The seven tunes recorded at the KFBI studio are often listed together on November 30, but a hand-written track sheet shows that two tunes are from November 30 and the remainder from December 2. The same archive has a great photo of the McShann group with a very young Charlie Parker. I am grateful to Leif Bo Petersen for alerting me to the existence of these photos, and to Chieo Yamada for additional help.