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Charlie Parker session details

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Probably May-November 1940 (2 items; TT = 3:39)
Unknown venue, Kansas City KS
Private recording (Acetate) (C)

Charlie Parker (as)

1 Honeysuckle Rose (incomplete) (A. Razaf-F. Waller) 2:24
2 Body and Soul (incomplete) (J.W. Green-E. Heyman-R. Sour-F. Eyton) 1:15

Incomplete (0:48) on Stash and Philology


1 Honeysuckle Rose (incomplete)
12" LP: Philology Volume 1 (W 005)
CD: Philology Volume 1/4 (W 5/18-2), Stash STCD 535, Masters of Jazz MJCD 78, Philology Volume 26 (W 857), ESP-Disk 4050, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1331

2 Body and Soul (incomplete)
12" LP: Philology Volume 1 (W 005)
CD: Philology Volume 1/4 (W 5/18-2), Stash STCD 535, Masters of Jazz MJCD 78, Philology Volume 26 (W 857), ESP-Disk 4050, Frémeaux & Associés FA 1331


This is probably the earliest known recording of Parker, and the only example of extended unaccompanied playing. The recordings were made by Clarence Davis, probably in May 1940. The canonical version of this fragment is on Masters of Jazz -- it is speed-corrected, and earlier issues end at the bridge of "Body and Soul," but this version continues to the end of the chorus. The long version (5:24) on Philology 26, in addition to being fast, is a montage. There is a splice at 2:53, so what it really contains is two off-speed fragments roughly as follows:

Philology 0:00-2:53 = Masters of Jazz 0:00-3:03
Philology 2:53-5:24 = Masters of Jazz 1:10-3:39

Some early sources gave 1937 as the recording date, but this seems unlikely given the quality of Parker's playing. Also, he quotes a snippet of a Roy Eldridge solo from a 1938 Chu Berry recording of "Body and Soul."

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