[Ken]

I listened to the 52nd St ones with Symphony Sid, the Massey Hall one, and some from the JATP AllStars. But my favorite so far is this one recorded in '52 at a place called Rockland Palace. I heard this years ago on record but never was able to track it down until now. If I ignore the backing, and just listen to his playing..., well you can make up your own mind, but I like this one.

There's another one I heard on radio which came out around 2000 in which the sound quality was so good it was as if it was just recorded yesterday, but I can't recall what it was.

What live Bird is your favorite?

 

[whaler]

Right on!! The version of "Lester Leaps in" on this recording is the one they used for the opening scene of the "Bird" movie, only for the movie soundtrack they dubbed in a new rythym section. For sound quality, my vote goes to the Carnegie Hall w/strings that Verve recorded with (I would assume) good remote recording equipment. For ungodly playing, my vote would go to "Bird at St. Nick's". I have been trying to find out for years what brand of metal mouthpiece he played from the Bird with strings period, but nobody seems to know. Some say Link, some say Berg, but whatever it is, it has a single-screw inverted ligature on it, which I haven't seen from those makers. The guy that was using inverted ligatures at that time was Dukoff.

 

[Jaybird]

I would have to go with Bird at Carnegie Hall 1949. For some reason it's really hard to find, but if you can find it, get it because it's awesome. I actually bought it on vinyl, brand new, from gemm.com (you can find ANYTHING on there). The title of it was "1949 Concert". I transfered it from vinyl to disc right away. Apparently it was released on disc some time ago on a disc titled "Charlie Parker And The Stars Of Modern Jazz At Carnegie Hall," but I've never been able to find it under that or any other title on cd. Because there were a lot of other big names there, like Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan, etc. Bird's set is only around 25-30 minutes. But trust me, it's worth the money. His playing is just amazing, especially the version of "Koko" on there. So look for that one and if you can find it, don't let it get away.

 

[Ken]

Not sure whether it's my favourite yet but it's an interesting one. "Bird with the Herd" live from Kansas City in '51. I just found this in the local sales bin. I've listened to it a couple of times, and I reckon it's worth getting just to hear Bird with a name big band like Woody Herman's, which sound surprisingly modern for '51 (I haven't heard much Woody). Often I feel the backing behind Bird sounds old-fashioned compared to what he's playing, but not on this CD.

They sound good together, if you can get past the typical bootleg sound quality of that time. The main thing I noticed is the big band is in the background compared to Bird, but you can still hear their playing. Also features some nice tenor solos including, I assume, Bill Perkins who is in the horn section. Dave McKenna is on piano but you can hardly hear him.

All the tunes are either well known changes, or standards.

 

[DreamiZG]

Is Charlie Parker's The Cole Porter Songbook and The Legendary Dial Masters nice? Comments?

 

[Tryptykon]

I listened to the 52nd St ones with Symphony Sid, the Massey Hall one, and some from the JATP AllStars. But my favorite so far is this one recorded in '52 at a place called Rockland Palace. I heard this years ago on record but never was able to track it down until now. If I ignore the backing, and just listen to his playing..., well you can make up your own mind, but I like this one.

There's another one I heard on radio which came out around 2000 in which the sound quality was so good it was as if it was just recorded yesterday, but I can't recall what it was.

What live Bird is your favorite?

I'm listening to that Rockland Palace gig, right now and it ranks up there
with my alltime fave live Bird. I have it on a Hipsville/Rhino collection entitled
Charlie Parker BeBop & Bird (I have Vols. 1 and 2, there may be more ..?)

There's also the live stuff at Birdland from June of 1950 w/ Fats Navarro. that
is incredible. Fats would be dead within months from the ravages of addiction
and subsequently contracting TB, which took more than a few musicians of
that general period.

The Rockland Palace gig like all of the precious few live recordings, really
showcases Bird in ALL of firey brilliance. Until they put me in my grave,or
unless I happen to go deaf in the meantime, I will ALWAYS get goosebumps
listening to Charlie Parker .. it really is completely off the charts in terms of
clarity of line, MONSTROUS swing, endless variety,soulfulness,great humour
and profound lyricism .

There are things that he played that were NEVER equalled,to this day, aspects
of his style that weren't dealt with.

I'd have to put him at the top of my list, and I don't think anything is going
to knock him off of there.

I could wax on and on about this TRUE GENIUS of modern music, but I'll use
some restraint, here .

Like I said, I'll go to my grave MARVELLING at what he played and how he
played it .. words actually fail, in all honesty. You either hear it or you don't.

Nobody in the same building with this man, a true giant musically.

Love me some Charlie Parker, any hour of the day, or day of the week

God bless you Bird, wherever you are, now.

 

[lyric4christ]

diz 'n bird @ carnegie hall

I would have to go with Bird at Carnegie Hall 1949.

My favorite is Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie - Diz 'N Bird at Carnegie Hall in 1947 on Blue Note records Performance Series. It's got Diz's band, Parker's horn and Ella covering vocals, Milt Jackson on vibes and, I LOVE IT :headbang:

I especially like the track "Oop-Pop-A-Da" they sound like they are having soo much fun. I think that is why I like it so much; these guys, all 3 of them are truly enjoying this performance and you can hear how much the audience is enjoying it as well. Absolutely awesome.

 

[asaxman]

I won't be much help here, but a live recording, I USED have with Bird, and Fats, (maybe the record mentioned earlier), also had Bud Powell on piano.All three were in GREAT form, that night! No one would be out-done!!! The recording quality ranged from OK, to bad, but the playing, is unbelievable! Bird, Fats, and Bud, are BURNIN'!!!!

 

[saxymanzach]

I really enjoy the Live at Massey Hall album, especially the fact that Parker forgot his horn that day and is using a borrowed one! Still sounds amazing on it, that is unbelievable!

 

[mpsax]

parker & dizzy at new york town hall 1947
fantastic stuff! amatuer recording, very authentic...and parker was late and missed the first song haha

 

[Kevin]

I can't remember the exact date or location of this recording (It might be Live at the Roost), but there is a recording where he is playing Salt Peanuts and Bird is trading solos with a trumpet and plays into the altissimo to copy the trumpet. It is the only time I have ever heard him play altissimo. I haven't heard that recording in years.

 

[king koeller]

BIRD ON TENOR

 

[whaler]

BIRD ON TENOR

I didn't know that there was a Bird on Tenor live recording. Can you tell me the name or label because the only one I am aware of is the Miles "Collector's Items with Sonny Rollins. If you think about it, even the studio recordings were live compared to the way things are done now in the studio.

 

[Ken]

The only recording I'm aware of is a studio session where he plays tenor on one tune. The tune's title was "Milestones" I think.

 

[Off-kilter]

Bird Lives!!!!

Sorry, couldn't help myself. I was raised on Bird, it's almost all my father played. I have all his old original albums and a bunch more I've collected since myself. Best,best, best LIVE album I've heard has to be' One Night in Washington, Charlie Parker with The Orchestra '. Beautiful recording, great quality ( computer enhanced and cleaned up ) of Bird playing in front of a really hot band playing to some great charts. They sound 'spot on' , not lame like some other bands who backed him up ( I'm obviously not talking about his small groups ) He just showed up, no stand , no music , no rehearsal and just blew. Every time he comes in it just makes the hair on my arms stand up on end.
I don't know of any other tenor stuff ( especially live ) but there's three studio cuts of him on ' Charlie Parker Encores, The Savoy Sessions '; 'Milestones', 'Little Willie Leaps In' and 'Half Nelson'. These sessions were with Miles Davis as band leader and the supposition could be made that Miles had him play tenor 'cause he was tired of being blown away:twisted:

 

[Berko]

I love the CD
Swedish Snaps

 

[mcudahy]

This is one of those "Proper Boxes," 4 CDs of live Bird for a pretty good price:
http://www.amazon.com/Chasin-Bird-C..._bbs_sr_1/102-6705333-0607329?ie=UTF8&s=music

BTW, the Amazon track listing is messed up: they must have listed the tracks from only one of the four CDs. Proper's own web site includes a list of all the tracks:
http://www.propermusic.com/products.asp?recnumber=699#

I haven't heard these CDs; saw the box last night at Tower's going-out-of-business sale for 20% off--but it was still more than Amazon's price. (Guess they mean 20% off of the undiscounted price that nobody in his/her right mind would actually think of charging!)

 

[mcudahy]

I should correct what I just said: with the discount, Tower's price would be $24 even, instead of $24.98, so you'd save 98 cents plus shipping. And you'd get instant gratification (once you manage to tear the plastic wrapping off). But I still think the "20% Off!" signs all over the store are misleading.

 

[Star_Eyes]

I like how on Diz N Bird At Carnegie Hall you can hear the band members yelling in the background... great version of Night in Tunisia as well.

 

[mcudahy]

For ungodly playing, my vote would go to "Bird at St. Nick's".

I agree with this! There is so much amazing playing on this recording. Reviewers (especially Scott Yanow on All Music Guide) complain about the sound quality, but... isn't that like complaining about the colors in a Michelangelo statue? (No, it's not really--there must be a really good analogy, but I can't think of one right now.) Bird was in great form, and this is one of those "bursting with creativity" kind of CDs.

Yanow says, "Veteran Charlie Parker collectors generally know that they should avoid all but his most famous live sessions." Then he goes on to say that this isn't one of those. I actually like Yanow's reviews; they've helped me a lot in using Rhapsody, where you have no info, no liner notes, just a million albums to stream. But that statement seems totally off to me, mind-bogglingly wrong! (Is "mind-bogglingly" a word? I hope not, for the sake of our beautiful language.) Parker's live sessions seem consistently great to me, with few exceptions.