Category: DEFAULT

Star Eyes - Charlie Parker - The Essential Charlie Parker (CD)

Charlie Shavers. Laird Baird. April in Paris. Embraceable You. Au Privave. The Song Is You. Mango Mangue. She Rote. In the Still of the Night. Cole Porter. Star Eyes.

The genious that overflowed from Bird is evident in his sound, rhythm, melodic invention and harmonic explorations. Listening to Bird has been one of life's pleasures for me, and this CD is no exception. This is music that should be listened to by all music lovers, regardless of their favorite genre. OK, the music, of course, rates 10 stars, for there is some great music here. But Polygram has labeled this "the" essential Charlie Parker, when it really isn't. This is music from the various record companies that Charlie Parker recorded for in the late 40's and early 50's under the producer Norman Granz, generally known as the Verve group of companies, eventually bought up by Polygram.

Since it only contains Verve product it isn't really a representative sample of Charlie Parker's recordings. A much better value for your money if you want only one purchase of Charlie Parker material is the box set by Proper Records called "Boss Bird. This is a 4 CD set, and you can usually find great used copies here at Amazon for around 15 dollars. It contains four full CD's of music from throughout Bird's career: early recordings, the essential recordings for Savoy and Dial with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis that made him famous, and a nice sample of the later Verve years.

It's a terrific set, and well worth owning. If you really want to keep your purchase down to less than 4 CD's, try the one-disc compilation that was part of the "Ken Burns Jazz" series. It's just a single CD, contains the great recordings from throughout Bird's career. As for this particular CD that I am reviewing here: there is some fine stuff, but they are being too tricky with the title, since it's just a slice of Parker's career.

If you do want a "best of" album of the Verve years there is a two-CD sampler floating around Amazon that is a better deal. Need customer service? Click here. That is interesting, as is the fact that iTunes offers side-by-side the Verve Bird releases and the much cheaper bootlegs of the same releases. That site has been around a long time and he does a heck of job. My recollection is that the site used to be affiliated with the University of Maryland but then they parted ways.

Posted 7 May edited. Actually I had fancied this series at some time in the past myself - the not exactly hi-fi sounds on "Bird Is Free" on the "Charlie Parker Records" label had been my introduction to "live Bird" in my VERY early collecting days at school so that would not have frightened me away - but never really followed it up because I figured I already had a fair cross-section of Bird snippets and except for diehard Bird cultists it would just have been tooo hard to tell which is which.

Posted 7 May My Old Flame. Out of Nowhere. Don't Blame Me. How Deep Is the Ocean? Parker's Mood. Just Friends. Star Eyes. Log in. Mixtapes Forums Lyrics Artists add Journals. Artists - C. Star Eyes is found on the album Verve Jazz Masters The Genius of Charlie Parker, Vol. When My Baby Left Me. Royal Garden Blues. Spencer Williams. Roll 'Em. Mary Lou Williams. A-Tisket, A-Tasket. Air Mail Special.

One O'Clock Jump.