Session details: Birdland (March 31, 1951)

Charlie Parker session details

March 31, 1951 (9 items; TT = 24:34)

Birdland, New York NY

WJZ-AM radio broadcast (B)

Show chatter

Charlie Parker (as); J.B. "Dizzy" Gillespie (tpt); Earl "Bud" Powell (p); Tommy Potter (b); Roy Haynes (d); Symphony Sid Torin (ann)

1	Announcement (Symphony Sid Torin)	1:51
	SS: "...To bring to you three of the greatest gentlemen of modern music, the gentlemen that we presented about five, oh, about 1945, in their first concert at Carnegie Hall. You were born there?" DG: "I wasn't born then." SS: You wasn't born in 1945? I got news for you Birk [sic]" Unknown: "Birk?" SS: "I said 'Birk', not... 'Birk', the name is 'Birk', Jim... Watch your language, Jim, be cool, because we'll send Sephardic on you, (undecipherable). I think we ought to give these three gentlemen -- as a matter of fact the entire group... 'What is the first tune?' Why should we worry about what's the first tune? But what I think we ought to do is give each one of these three gentlemen a great big hand. First, ladies and gentlemen, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie real quick-like... 'Cause I don't know who's getting top billing this morning, but if I said it real, real f-- Watch your language! Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie... Bud Powell at the piano, ladies and gentlemen... On bass, we have, ah, Tommy Potter. Let's give Tommy a great big hand... I thought your name was Max... On drums, ladies and gentlemen, Sergeant Roy Haynes... Not a sergeant yet, but we'll, we'll get him in there. And those are the gentlemen that are here up until this coming Wednesday, and we'd love for you to come by and dig Dizzy and Bird and... Bud Powell. As I said before, three of the greatest gentlemen of modern music... What'll we do first?" CP: "'Blue 'n' Boogie'" SS: You say you will? That was made with, uh, Dexter, wasn't it, years ago? Here it is, 'Blue 'n' Boogie'..."
2	Blue 'n' Boogie (D. Gillespie-F. Paparelli)	6:54
	During his solo Parker quotes "I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair" (1:28-1:32) and "Lady Bird" (2:32-2:36)
3	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:17
	"Wow, what memories that brings back. Brings back a lot of memories. I don't know whether you remember 1945, but... when Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and Bud Powell all were on 52nd Street... (gap) ...o with Bird, and Dizzy... Here's 'Anthropology'..."
4	Anthropology (D. Gillespie-C. Parker)	5:04
	Parker, Gillespie, and Haynes exchanges following Powell's solo (3:48-4:35)
5	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	1:09
	"A little while ago, while the boys were playing the thing, I was standing at the bar and I was talkin' to Terry Gibbs and he said to me just like I've been saying to you for the past few days, it never in life again probably will happen again, probably, where you can get three great gentlemen of modern music, guys like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell, Roy Haynes and uh, (Parker says 'Tommy Potter') Tommy Potter all together in one group. It's only because of Birdland that we can get such wonderful guys, gentlemen who've made modern music what it is today. I hope you enjoy it, hope you have a lot of fun. Don't forget, make it here at Birdland, the jazz corner of the world, Broadway at 52nd Street, a dollar admission -- how could you go wrong? Did you have a ball for just a dollar? Did you? (Shouts.) Look at them, all these fellas here, and girls, who had a lot of fun. Look, if you want to sit and make it with the sauce, I mean it's your fault. But anyhow, just a dollar you can come by and relax and have a wonderful, wonderful time. Right now, ladies and gentlemen, a thing that, uh, was originally written by the high priest of bop, Thelonious Monk, as done by Bird and Dizzy and the fellas, ''Round About Midnight'..."
6	'Round Midnight (B. Hanighen-C. Williams-T. Monk)	3:14
7	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:31
	SS: "''Round About Midnight', and I remember the year... I remember years ago when, uh, Dizzy was playing it with his big band, I think at the Spotlite on 52nd Street, Billie Holiday used to come and he [sic] says, 'one of these day I'm gonna record....' (Someone in the audience yells.) I remember that, she used to sit at the back of the bar and she'd say, 'One of these days I'm gonna sing ''Round About Midnight'. Never happened, but maybe, maybe one of these days it will. What are we gotta do, Bird? We got one more." CP: "'Tunisia'..." SS: 'A Night in Tunisia'? A great big hand for 'A Night in Tunisia' by a wonderful organization..." Potter and Haynes begin during the closing seconds of Sid's introduction
8	A Night in Tunisia (D. Gillespie-F. Paparelli)	4:54
9	Jumpin' with Symphony Sid (incomplete, with closing announcement) (L. Young)	0:40
	Voiceover from 0:06: "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you who are listening in this morning have had a lot of fun listening to Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Tommy Potter, Roy Haynes. I hope you enjoyed George Kirby our impressionist here at Birdland, and I hope too that you've enjoyed the exciting sounds of Georgie Auld and the All-Stars. It's been a wonderful morning. Thanks a lot, ladies and gentlemen, and don't forget, if you're looking for musical fun, make it here at Birdland at the jazz corner of the world, Broadway at 52nd Street. Well, it looks like we gotta cut out, while we do, here's Bob Garrity and the news..."


1 Announcement (Symphony Sid Torin) 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 12 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
2 Blue 'n' Boogie 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13, Columbia JC-34831 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
3 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin) 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
4 Anthropology 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13, Columbia JC-34831 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
5 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin) CD: Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
6 'Round Midnight 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13, Columbia JC-34831 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
7 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin) 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
8 A Night in Tunisia 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13, Columbia JC-34831 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Volume 57 (W 888), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340
9 Jumpin' with Symphony Sid (incomplete, with closing announcement) 12" LP: Bird Box 01-22 LP 13, Columbia JC-34831 CD: New Sound Planet JUTB 3010, Sound Hills SSCD 8026, Charly Le Jazz 21, Ember/Fat Boy FBB 901, Philology Volume 53 (W 894), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88642, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1340

The Gillespie-Parker group (with Powell, Potter, and Haynes) opened at Birdland on March 29, but Powell was quickly replaced by Billy Taylor. According to Symphony Sid, the Quintet will be at Birdland "up until this coming Wednesday" (April 4?), but there is a Voice of America recording from Birdland, with Leonard Feather as master of ceremonies, probably from April 1-3, featuring the Parker-Gillespie Quintet and Georgie Auld's Quintet.

In his introduction Symphony Sid alludes to a 1945 Carnegie Hall appearance of Parker, Gillespie, and Powell, but it's not clear what he's referring to. Gillespie and Parker played together at Carnegie Hall in 1947 (September 29), but Powell was not in the band. Neither Parker nor Gillespie played in Carnegie Hall during 1945. In the notes to the Ember set, Robert Bregman speculates that Sid may have in mind a performance in Town Hall. Parker and Gillespie performed together at Town Hall on May 16 and June 22, but Al Haig is usually listed as the pianist on these concerts for the New Jazz Foundation.

The announcements are usually severely edited or missing altogether from Bird Box. Thanks to James Accardi for help with some of Sid's comments.