Session details: Bel-Tone Studio (December 17, 1945)

Charlie Parker session details

December 17, 1945 (6 items; TT = 17:48)

Bel-Tone Studio, Hollywood CA

Commercial for Bel-Tone

Show chatter

Charlie Parker (as); J.B. "Dizzy" Gillespie (tpt); Jack McVea (ts); Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa (p); Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (g, p, voc); Tiny "Bam" Brown (b); Arthur "Zutty" Singleton (d)

1	Dizzy Boogie (take 1 (master)) (D. Gillespie)	3:07
2	Dizzy Boogie (take 2) (D. Gillespie)	3:13
3	Flat Foot Floogie (take 1 (master)) (S. Gaillard-S. Stewart-A.B. Green)	2:30
4	Flat Foot Floogie (take 2) (S. Gaillard-S. Stewart-A.B. Green)	2:43
5	Popity Pop (S. Gaillard)	2:55
6	Slim's Jam (S. Gaillard)	3:20
	Gaillard patter throughout. SJL-1177 includes a fragment (0:15) called "Slim's Jam (78 excerpt)" which extends the outro a few seconds beyond the original version
	Gaillard: "OK, there's Dodo, piano, and Tiny on the bass. Looks like we'll have a fine jam session here. And here comes Zutty in the door with his brushes, what you knowin', papa? Look this cat here, here's a suitcase, that's killer, beat on that..." McVea: "Open up the door, Richard!" Gaillard: "Well, look here. Well, here's Jack Mac... Vouty and his tenor." McVea: [undecipherable] Gaillard: "Well, say again, how 'bout blowin' somethin', man?" McVea: "Got the next chorus." Gaillard: "All reet, that's great, take it -- you got it..." (McVea solos, 0:31-0:50) Gaillard: "Hey that sounds so fine. Hey, you better bring me a double order... of reeti-vooties with a little... hot sauce on it, that'll just about fix it. Well, here's here... well, lookit Charlie Yardbird-orooni..." Parker: "Hey there Slim, how's it goin', Jim?" Gaillard: "Oh, everything is mellow, man. Look at, he's got to get his horn with an eight and blow somethin'..." Parker: "Yeah, I got my horn with me. Man, I wanna blow something but I'm havin' a little reed trouble." Gaillard: "Haven't got a reed?" Parker: "Yeah." Gaillard: "Well, McVouty's got a reed, he can trim it down a little. That's great?" Parker: "Yeah." Gaillard: "Oh, that's solid, then, let's get together and blow. We're in A-flat -- take the next, you got it..." Parker: "I got it." Gaillard: "All reet..." (Parker solos, 1:23-1:57) Gaillard: "Yeah. Bring me an orange soda, man." Unknown: "Orange soda?" Gaillard: "Yeah, that'll just [undecipherable]... Well, lookit here's Daz MacSkivvin' Vouts-o-rooni with his trumpet there..." Gillespie: "Oh, [undecipherable]" Gaillard: "What's in the... Oh, everything is solid..." Gillespie: "Hey, listen, I gotta go [undecipherable]..." Gaillard: "What, you gotta cut out?" Gillespie: "I gotta go to a...Jubilee." Gaillard: "Jubilee? Gotta make another da... that's groovy. You gotta make the gig? Take the next chorus before you cut out. Take the next chorus, that's killer. All reet, that's all reet. Fall on him -- you can play." (Gillespie solos, 2:24-2:52) Gaillard: "Bring me a big bowl of avocado seed soup there while we nail the seed through the roof, and that'll fix it. Say lookit here papa, how 'bout settin' a riff on the next chorus and we'll... take him on out there because he's got to go and make another gig there. Let's cut -- I gotta get up early in the mornin' myself -- so let's riff from the next chorus and cut on out..."


1 Dizzy Boogie (take 1 (master)) 78 rpm: Bel-Tone 753, Majestic 9002, 10000 45 rpm: Savoy XP-8097 12" LP: Savoy MG 12014, SJL 1177, Spotlite SPJ 150D CD: Nippon Columbia COCY 75791/8, COCB-50400 (= COCB-53033, COCB-53436, COCB-53883, COCB-54230), Definitive DRCD 11148, Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1332
2 Dizzy Boogie (take 2) 12" LP: Savoy SJL 1177, Spotlite SPJ 150D CD: Nippon Columbia COCY 75791/8, COCB-50400 (= COCB-53033, COCB-53436, COCB-53883, COCB-54230), Definitive DRCD 11148, Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1332
3 Flat Foot Floogie (take 1 (master)) 78 rpm: Bel-Tone 758, Majestic 9002, 10001 45 rpm: Savoy XP-8097 12" LP: Savoy MG 12014, SJL 1177, Spotlite SPJ 150D CD: Nippon Columbia COCY 75791/8, COCB-50400 (= COCB-53033, COCB-53436, COCB-53883, COCB-54230), Definitive DRCD 11148, Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1332
4 Flat Foot Floogie (take 2) 12" LP: Savoy SJL 1177, Spotlite SPJ 150D CD: Nippon Columbia COCY 75791/8, COCB-50400 (= COCB-53033, COCB-53436, COCB-53883, COCB-54230), Definitive DRCD 11148, Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1332
5 Popity Pop 78 rpm: Bel-Tone 753, Majestic 9001, 10001 45 rpm: Savoy XP-8098 12" LP: Savoy MG 12014, SJL 1177, Spotlite SPJ 150D CD: Nippon Columbia COCY 75791/8, COCB-50400 (= COCB-53033, COCB-53436, COCB-53883, COCB-54230), Definitive DRCD 11148, Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1332
6 Slim's Jam 78 rpm: Bel-Tone 761, Majestic 9001, 10000 45 rpm: Savoy XP-8098 12" LP: Savoy MG 12014, SJL 1177, Spotlite SPJ 150D CD: Nippon Columbia COCY 75791/8, COCB-50400 (= COCB-53033, COCB-53436, COCB-53883, COCB-54230), Definitive DRCD 11148, Masters of Jazz MJCD 121, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1332

Slim Gaillard recorded a dozen tunes for Jack Elliott's Bel-Tone Recording Corporation in 1945-1946. These tunes are the only ones with Parker and Gillespie. The Bel-Tone catalog was sold to Majestic in the summer of 1946, and many recordings were reissued on the new label. (Bel-Tone went out of business for good in December 1946.) The two alternate takes are sonically inferior to the masters.

The studio is probably the Bel-Tone Recording Corporation's headquarters, which was located at 8624 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

This session is usually dated December 29th, but that date is probably wrong. During "Slim's Jam," Gillespie remarks to Gaillard that he cannot stay long because he must leave to make a Jubilee date. According to Rainer E. Lötz and Ulrich Neuert, the AFRS ledgers show that the December 17th date was the last of the year. If that's the Jubilee session Gillespie's talking about, then the current session also probably took place on the 17th. (See The AFRS Jubilee Transcription Programs: An Exploratory Discography, Vol. 1-2 (1985). Dennis M. Spragg has updated the discography and maintains it on the Glenn Miller Archive website, http://www.colorado.edu/amrc/glenn-miller-archive/gma-catalogs/jubilee.) I'm grateful to Leif Bo Petersen and Tom Samuels for help with this session.