Philology gives the date of this session as the 28th, but on that date the Kenton
band played the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Kenton participated in an extensive tour, the Festival of Modern American Jazz, in November 1953. In addition
to the Kenton band, participants included June Christy; Dizzy Gillespie; Slim Gaillard;
Stan Getz; and Candido. The tour resumed in late January 1954, by which time Getz
had been convicted on drug charges. Parker was hired as a soloist, and Bill Holman
provided a few arrangements to showcase his playing. The second leg of the Festival of Modern Jazz tour included the Kenton band; June
Christy; the Errol Garner Trio; and guest soloists Gillespie, Parker, Lee Konitz,
and Candido. After a few days rehearsal in Dallas, the next month was very full:
January 28: Wichita Falls, TX - unknown venue
January 29: San Antonio, TX - Bexar County Coliseum
January 30: Houston - City Auditorium
January 31: New Orleans - Municipal Auditorium (two shows: 3:30 pm, 8:30 pm)
February 1: Mobile, AL - Fort Whiting
February 2: Atlanta, GA - Municipal Auditorium
February 3: Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium (two shows: 7:00 pm, 10:00 pm)
February 4: Spartanburg, SC - Memorial Auditorium
February 5: Raleigh, NC - Memorial Auditorium
February 6: Brooklyn, NY - Paramount Theatre (two shows: 8:30 pm, midnight)
February 7: Washington DC - National Guard Armory Auditorium
February 8: Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre
February 9: Worcester, MA - Worcester Auditorium
February 10: White Plains, NY - Civic Center
February 11: Toronto - Massey Hall
February 12: Ann Arbor, MI - unknown venue (two shows: 7:30 pm, 9:30 pm)
February 13: Detroit, MI - Masonic Temple
February 14: Chicago, IL - Rainbow Arena (two shows: 7:00 pm, 10:00 pm)
February 15: Independence, KS - Memorial Auditorium
February 16: Hutchinson, KS - Convention Hall
February 17: Hays, KS - Fort Hays
February 19: Denver, CO - Rainbow Ballroom (two shows: 7:15 pm, 9:15 pm)
February 20: Salt Lake City, UT - Capital Theatre
February 21: Bozeman, MT - Montana State University
February 22: Spokane, WA - 161st Infantry Armory
February 23: Vancouver - Georgia Auditorium
February 24: Seattle, WA - Civic Auditorium (two shows: 3:30 pm, 8:30 pm)
February 25: Portland, OR - Civic Auditorium
February 26: San Francisco, CA - Paramount Theatre (two shows: 8:30 pm, 11:30 pm)
February 27: Oakland, CA - Oakland Auditorium Theatre
February 28: Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium
The host and MC for the Los Angeles show was Gene Norman. According to a note in
Jazz Journal International (March 1991), Gene Norman claimed "that he had
unissued tapes of Bird with Kenton but was unlikely to issue them because of copyright
difficulties." The second version of "My Funny Valentine" is probably one of these
items, which would make the date February 28. The arrangement is the same as the
common version, but Parker's solo is very different, and the applause is much more
enthusiastic.
The Vogue Jazz CDs contain additional titles from this date where Dizzy Gillespie
is the guest soloist: "On the Alamo" (2:50), "Ooh Shoobie-Doobie" (3:53), and "Manteca"
(8:13), the latter with Candido.
I'm grateful to John Griffin and Marcel Gärtner for help with this session,
and to Sam Blitt for alerting me to the existence of the second version of "My Funny
Valentine."
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