540104-10

CHARLIE PARKER AND HIS ALL-STARS

RB, 'Station WCOP', 'Hi Hat Club', Columbus Avenue And Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MASS., January 4-10, 1954.

Herbie Williams (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Rollins Griffith (p); Jimmy Woode (b); Marquis Foster (ds); Symphony Sid Torin (m.c.).

#	Title	Take	Time
a	My Funny Valentine	-inc.	6:33
The underlying rhythm alternates between a Latin beat and straight fours. Parker plays alone in the opening chorus, and there are some trumpet obbligatos behind him during the closing chorus. Faded out during closing theme
b	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)		0:13
"And so, ladies and gentlemen, it's really a pleasure on our WCOP microphones to have this great gentleman of jazz, Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker, bunch of wonderful gentlemen of jazz, who we'll tell you about... [Parker kicks off 'Ornithology'] There he goes..."
c	Ornithology		7:43
During his solo Parker quotes "Kerry Dancers" (1:47-1:52); during his solo Williams alludes to "Cool Blues" (3:16-3:19) and "Salt Peanuts" (4:32-4:35)
d	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)		0:29
SS: "Ah... Say, Bird? Charlie? Ah, Mr. Parker? I don't know if you have this in your repertoire, but we're getting a lot of calls for 'Suede Shoes'. Is that a little too rough, or...? Would you rather do something else?" CP: "Well, is that a request of yours directly, Symphonic Sidney, or is that..." SS: "No no, it's a request.." CP: "...from the people?" SS: "...the people, Dad." CP: "For the people, and for you, yes." SS: "All right, here it is, ladies and gentlemen, your favorite, 'Suede Shoes'..."
e	My Little Suede Shoes	-inc.	7:09
During his solo Parker quotes "Kerry Dancers" (1:47-1:52); during his solo Williams alludes to "Cool Blues" (3:16-3:19) and "Salt Peanuts" (4:32-4:35)
f	52nd Street Theme	-inc.	1:08
Voiceover 0:28-1:09: "And so there's Charlie Parker's theme, '52nd Street'... Thanks a lot to Charlie Parker on alto, Herbie Williams on trumpet, Rollins Griffin [sic] on piano, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Marquis Foster on drums. How 'bout it, ladies and gentlemen, a great big hand for Charlie Parker and his wonderful, wonderful organization. Everybody! Big hand... And so for us it means so long. It's been a wonderful evening here at the Hi-Hat, the jazz corner of Boston, Columbus at Mass Avenue, and don't forget, Charlie Parker will be here right up until one o'clock in the morning. And so until tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock, over at WBMS, this is your boy Symphony Sid..." (faded out)
g	Introduction (C. Parker)		0:29
"And next, ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to do a tune that was recorded a few weeks ago, absolutely in the year 1944 [sic], I had the pleasure at that time of doing this tune with the one and only Dizzy Gillespie, which Symphony Sid was kind enough to mention a few minutes ago. We sincerely hope those of you who do not remember nor recognize this tune, we hope you still enjoy 'Now's the Time'..."
h	Now's the Time		6:52
During his solo Williams quotes "Cool Blues" (3:46-3:48) and "Sippin' at Bells" (4:02-4:08)
i	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)		0:04
"'Now's the Time', ladies and gentlemen, a beautiful side, a beautiful tune we know you enjoyed."
j	Groovin' High		6:01
k	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin, Parker)		0:23
CP: "Thank you, Sidney." SS: "I like the way you call me..., he's about the only cat calls me Sidney." CP: "That's true, 'Symphonic Sidney', that's the whole moniker, 'Symphony Sid' is just an adaption [sic]. Well, I think next we'll continue with a tune that was recorded and released a few years ago on the Dial label, we sincerely hope people like 'Cheryl'..."
l	Cheryl		5:39
Parker, Williams, and Foster exchanges after Griffith's solo (4:33-4:56), after which Foster takes a short solo. The exchanges and drum solo are edited out on Blue Note 99787 (listen for the splice at 4:37)
m	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)		0:05
"...'Cheryl'... [splice] ...'Ornithology'..."
n	Ornithology		6:21
Parker plays "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" during his solo (1:16-1:20)
o	52nd Street Theme (with announcement)		1:28
Voiceover from 0:05: "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, we hope you've had a lot of fun listening to the great Charlie Parker, one of the great modernists of all time. We'd like to remind you that Charlie Parker will be here right up until... one o'clock this morning. If you haven't made up your mind what to do tonight, come on down, have a ball. It's always a lot of fun here at the Hi-Hat, the jazz corner of Boston, Columbus at Mass Avenue. Don't forget, starting tomorrow, that's Monday, in comes Ruth Brown for one solid week. Ruth Brown, Alphonse Hall and the band (?), should make for a real [undecipherable] thing. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, a great big hand for Charlie Parker... Everybody..."

Note:

The piano is badly out of tune on all tunes from this date.
Fresh Sound and Uptown both place this date as January 1954. The concluding "Cheryl" and "Ornithology" are listed on FSCD-1006 as from
June 14, 1953, but this seems unlikely given Parker's allusion to "Santa Claus in Coming to Town" in his solo on the latter. According
to Bob Porter's notes to Blue Note 99787, "the dates of December 19 and 20, 1953 were taken from the original tape box."
I have not found ads or reviews to confirm this date, but it makes sense. Parker was also booked as a single at the Hi-Hat for a week
the following month, January 18-24 (Monday-Sunday). On the basis of advertisements and reviews Leif Bo Petersen suggests that these tunes
are from early January.

"My Funny Valentine" is dated June 1953 by Stash and Fresh Sounds. The Latin tinge suggests a date in early 1954, however -- the
arrangement of this tune for Parker with the Stan Kenton band is quite similar, and on February 9 the Kenton band with Parker as guest
soloist performed in Worcester (compare the later recorded version from Portland, February 25, 1954). In addition, the trumpet player
sounds like Williams to me (not Herb Pomeroy, pace the Uptown liner notes) -- listen to the solo on "Ornithology" and compare it to the
other Williams solo from a December WCOP broadcast. But this case is very circumstantial.

Philology Volume 26 contains a fragment of "My Little Suede Shoes" followed by a version of "52nd Street Theme" that isn't included on
other releases. In the closing patter Symphony Sid mentions his WBMS show -- he had an afternoon-evening show on WBMS, and his
late-night WCOP show began at 10:00 pm.

c, e, h, j, l, n, o	Bird Box (I) LP21/22	"C.PARKER LIVE AND PRIVATE RECORDINGS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER" (22LPs)
c, e, h, j, l, n, o	Phoenix LP 10	NEW BIRD / HI HAT BROADCASTS 1953
c, e, h, j, l, n, o	Bird Box (Jazz Up Top Box CD-3017)	"LIVE AND PRIVATE RECORDINGS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER" BIRD BOX VOL.16-18 [Disc 18] [1989]
b - e, g - j, l, n	Blue Note CDP 99787,(J) TOCJ-5837	"BIRD AT THE HI-HAT" CHARLIE PARKER
all titles omit a, f	Fresh Sounds (Sp) FSCD 1006	"BIRD IN BOSTON: C.PARKER LIVE AT THE HI-HAT, 1953-54 Vol.1" [1991]
a	Fresh Sounds (Sp) FSCD 1007	"BIRD IN BOSTON: C.PARKER LIVE AT THE HI-HAT, 1953-54 Vol.2" [1991]
all titles omit f, i	Fremeaux & Associes (Fr) FA 1343	"INTEGRALE VOL.13 : "I REMEMBER YOU" 1953 - 1954"
g, h, i	The Golden Age of Jazz JZCD312	"XII. C.PARKER / BIRD :RARITIES FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS 1950-1953"
e, f	Philology (I) Vol.26 (W.857)	"BIRD'S EYES: LAST UNISSUED, Vol. 26"
all titles omit a, e	Philology (I) Vol.46 (W.877)	"BIRD'S EYES: LAST UNISSUED, Vol. 46" (CD-R)
a	Philology (I) Vol.47 (W.878)	"BIRD'S EYES: LAST UNISSUED, Vol. 47" (CD-R)
d, f, n	Philology (I) Vol.59 (W.890)	"BIRD'S EYES: LAST UNISSUED, Vol. 59" (CD-R)
a	Stash ST-CD-10, ST-CD-582	"C.PARKER: THE BIRD YOU NEVER HEARD" [1988]
a, l	Stash STB-CD-2503	"THE CHARLIE PARKER COLLECTION VOL.2"
l - o	Stash ST-CD-21	"RARA AVIS" CHARLIE PARKER