Charlie Parker - Complete Verve Master Takes
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Charlie ParkerBrand: PARKER,CHARLIE
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set
CD Release Date: 2003-10-21
Music Label: Verve
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- The Bird - Shelly Manne
- Cardboard - Max Roach
- Visa - Max Roach
- Segment - Charlie Parker
- Passport - Charlie Parker
- Passport - Max Roach
- Just Friends - Ray Brown
- Everything Happens To Me - Ray Brown
- April In Paris - Ray Brown
- Summertime - Ray Brown
- I Didn't Know What Time It Was - Ray Brown
- If I Should Lose You - Ray Brown
- Star Eyes - Ray Brown
- Blues (Fast) - Ray Brown
- I'm In The Mood For Love - Ray Brown
- Bloomdido - Thelonious Monk
- An Oscar For Treadwell - Thelonious Monk
- Mohawk - Thelonious Monk
- My Melancholy Baby - Thelonious Monk
- Leap Frogs - Thelonious Monk
- Relaxin' With Lee - Thelonious Monk
- Dancing In The Dark - Ray Brown
- Out Of Nowhere - Ray Brown
- Laura - Ray Brown
- East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon) - Ray Brown
- They Can't Take That Away From Me - Ray Brown
- Easy To Love - Ray Brown
- I'm In The Mood For Love - Ray Brown
- I'll Remember April - Ray Brown
- Au Privave - Miles Davis
- She Rote - Miles Davis
- K.C. Blues - Miles Davis
- Star Eyes - Miles Davis
- My Little Suede Shoes - Charlie Parker
- Un Poquito De Tu Amor - Charlie Parker
- Tico-Tico - Charlie Parker
- Fiesta - Charlie Parker
- Why Do I Love You? - Charlie Parker
- Blues For Alice - Ray Brown
- Si Si - Ray Brown
- Swedish Schnapps - Ray Brown
- Black Home Blues - Ray Brown
- Loverman - Ray Brown
- Temptation - Will Bradley
- Lover - Will Bradley
- Autumn In New York - Will Bradley
- Stella By Starlight - Will Bradley
- Mama Inez - Max Roach
- La Cucuracha - Max Roach
- Estrellita - Max Roach
- Begin The Beguine - Max Roach
- La Paloma - Max Roach
- Night And Day - Ray Brown
- Almost Like Being In Love - Ray Brown
- I Can't Get Started - Ray Brown
- What Is This Thing Called Love? - Ray Brown
- The Song Is You - Hank Jones
- Laird Baird - Hank Jones
- Kim - Hank Jones
- Cosmic Rays - Hank Jones
- In The Still Of The Night - Gil Evans
- Old Folks - Gil Evans
- If I Love Again - Gil Evans
- Chi-Chi - Max Roach
- I Remember You - Max Roach
- Now's The Time - Max Roach
- Confirmation - Max Roach
- I Get A Kick Out Of You - Roy Haynes
- Just One Of Those Things - Roy Haynes
- My Heart Belongs To Daddy - Roy Haynes
- I've Got You Under My Skin - Roy Haynes
- Love For Sale - Charlie Parker
- I Love Paris - Charlie Parker
Free Music Notes for Complete Verve Master Takes
Free Music Review: Great collection! In case you already own some Charlie Parker Verve CDs, you could also...
Hit: 5 Stars
... purchase the single CD Charlie Parker releases: "Swedish Schnapps"; "Bird and Diz"; "Charlie Parker With Strings" and "Charlie Parker" (album title), and you will have all his good Verve recordings.
That was the short version of my review.
~~~
Here's the reason for my recommendation:
If you're interested in completing your collection of all his Verve recordings in single CD releases, while avoiding duplications, I would like to help you to find your way through the labyrinth of CDs of his music that Verve released, often mixing up the contents of the original LPs.
First of all, buying this collection of the so-called (the aren't) Complete Verve Master Takes is likely the cheapest way to get all the songs you don't have yet, even if you already own previous single CDs.
However, the takes in this collection are presented in chronological order of the recording sessions, which means that the themes of the music greatly vary, and you here some songs from one album, then some from another album, then back to the previous album, etc. I prefer to listen to one original album at one time, maybe a collection of songs with his quintet, or listen to another album, with strings, but not everything mixed together. Of course you may like that.
Also, I really love the original album covers of his individually released Verve albums, and since I already own several single CD releases of Charlie Parker's music on Verve, I was reluctant to buy this newly released "Charlie Parker - the Verve Master Takes" to complete my collection, especially since, in my opinion, the cover is truly horrible; Charlie Parker is depicted as a sort of gorilla, with his face scratched out and a red ribbon across his chest. It looks more like he's operating a pressure hammer than playing a saxophone. I saw it in the record store, and it's much worse than in the photos. It has nothing whatsoever with his music, or him as a person. But then, the Billie Holiday Verve Master Takes collection has an even more out of character illustration.
I love Charlie Parker, and I think the discs that contain his beautiful music should be housed in albums with beautiful design; above all, the original artwork that he himself saw when his albums were released. Also, there is something really nice and intimate about holding one album with a nice cover in your hand and to put the disc in the player, and to hear the music that inspired the original album cover. The CDs often contain two or more original LPs of similar theme, or number of musicians.
I found out, that all of Charlie Parker's Verve studio recordings, without duplications(*), are contained in 7 Single CD releases, of which I recommend only 5. These discs also contain many alternate tracks - which you may not care for, but can program out - but also have some additional great recordings that are not in this Master Takes Collection. Each CD has a really nice, authentic design, based on the covers from one of the original LP releases they contain. Here are the seven CDs, in order of recommendation:
"Charlie Parker With Strings" (Highest recommendation)
"Charlie Parker" (Highly recommended)
"Charlie Parker Swedish Schnapps" (Recommended)
"Bird and Diz" (Recommended, but very short)
"Charlie Parker South of the Border" (Recommended, with reservation)
"Charlie Parker - Cole Porter Songbook" (Not recommended)
"Big Band" (Absolutely not recommended)
"Charlie Parker Swedish Schnapps", and "Bird and Diz" contain his quintet recordings, his album with the title "Charlie Parker" contains his quartet and other small group recordings. "Charlie Parker South of the Border" contains his work with Latin Jazz groups, including the "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite", a 17 min long work, which the "Verve Master Takes" Collection does not have.
The "Charlie Parker with Strings" 10" LP was Charlie Parker's favorite of all his own recordings, and contains Jazz standards, almost all ballads. It's just a small group of musicians, including a handful of string players, who do not drown his playing and are not obtrusive. You clearly hear Charlie Parker's inspired dance around these wonderful melodies. The first 14 songs are sublime, and this is my favorite album.
(*) Charlie Parker's last, incomplete, LP for Verve was "Charlie Parker plays Cole Porter", for which he recorded only six songs before he died. He wasn't into these sessions, and it shows. The so-called "Charlie Parker Cole Porter Songbook" CD (a Cole Porter potpourri from several, extremely varied sources) is currently the only readily available single CD release of these 6 songs from the original Cole Porter LP. Charlie Parker's playing is uninspired, or drowned in a huge orchestra, or chorus, and I don't recommend this CD.
The recently released "Big Band" album is not good, because it mostly consists of material from the "Charlie Parker With Strings" CD, which is an album of much higher consistency. None of the other "BIG BAND" songs are good, because he has to fight a very aggressive, LOUD orchestra. It gets even worse... three songs on the "Big Band" album - "In The Still Of The Night", "Old Folks" and "If I Love Again" - are truly atrocious and terribly dated, sung by a small "chorus" that has no musical merit whatsoever, and Charlie Parker is bogged down in this thick moasses which totally stifles his playing and invention. Listening to these songs is witnessing a rape or a genuine, pure artist. I urge you to sample these songs before you purchase the Big Band album, which entails many duplications from other albums. The Verve website let's you listen to the tracks in more detail.
Finally, there may be one reason to purchase the 3 disc collection of his music after all. I own the "Clifford Brown" EmArcy Master Takes", in the same series as the Charlie Parker collection offered here, and I really love it. It is made with much love (see my review). The most wonderful thing about it is that the booklet has all the information about all the recordings, when, where, with which musicians. Best of all, there is a seperate section, where each single LP or Single is named, and a quick code how to program your CD player to play a particular album only, in the original playing order of the LPs, without cross referencing. It only takes seconds to program one album. I have no way of knowing whether this Charlie Parker collection also offers this same quick program code. It's really a wonderful thing to have.
Complete Verve Master Takes Poster
In a remarkably short span of time, Charlie Parker rewrote the rules of jazz and established himself as one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. Parker made his mark in many ways -- as a virtuoso saxophonist, and innovative composer, a trend-setting bandleader, and a galvanizing force in the development of modern jazz. He was on this earth for only thirty-four years, but he left behind several lifetimes' worth of immortal music.Much of that music was documented by Norman Granz, the legendary record producer and founder of Verve Records, between 1947 and late 1954, just a few months before Parker's death. These three discs contain the master takes from every studio session Parker did for Granz, including the famous Charlie Parker With Strings recordings. With an all-star supporting cast that features Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, and many others.
This deluxe package includes:
- 73 tracks on 3 CDs
- almost 4 hours of music
- a 60-page booklet
- many rare photographs
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