Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another "Dead Sea Scrolls" musical discovery!! Sublime!, 9 Oct 2005
Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker hooked up in late June of 1945 for this knock-out concert at Town Hall, New York City, maybe for a post-VE Day celebration! With a history somewhat reminiscent of another newly released CD, "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane," these recordings, as acetates, were buried somewhere for sixty years and no one knew they existed in their entirety. Thus, this is the first time the concert has ever been released. Sixty years in the "lost and found!!" Makes one wonder what other treasures are buried out there! I recently read a comment that, "...the discovery of this recording is a Dead Sea Scrolls kind of event." For jazz/bebop lovers, it is so true!Unlike the Monk/Coltrane find, the quality of this recording is uneven, but the quality of the music is simply superb! The brilliance of young jazz greats Parker's and Gillespie's music shines through. At a time when jazz meant big band sound to most folks, Dizzy and Bird were discovering bebop, and coming out with classics like "A Night in Tunisia" and "Salt Peanuts" for the first time. The quintet's rhythm section, with great bop bassist Curley Russell, percussionist Max Roach and pianist Al Haig, is outstanding! Billed as Gillespie's Quintet, and playing mostly Dizzy's tunes, underrated tenor sax player Don Byas stands in for Bird until the tardy Parker shows for his gig. Big Sid Catlett makes a brief appearance for his solo on "Hothouse." And, as a campy side event, there is commentary by "Symphony" Sid Torin, a famous New York City disc jockey who covered the jazz scene, and introduces, announces and occasionally banters with the musicians and audience. Dizzy often said, when speaking of his musical collaboration with Parker, that Bird was "the other half of my heartbeat." The famous quote was actually prefaced by the following: "He had just what we needed. He had the line and he had the rhythm. The way he got from one note to the other and the way he played the rhythm fit what we were trying to do perfectly." It is amazingly clear, on this recording, how in sync these two musicians were and are. Their exquisite timing, their humor, their talent and virtuosity - unbelievable!! Gillespie's solo on "Groovin' High" is sublime as is Bird's transition into it. "Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945" is a remarkable find, a CD for every jazz lovers' collection. To be able to listen to this album and the "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane" CD, (both lost for decades and just released, within a 3 month period of each other), is an amazing gift. The only downside is that the Dizzy/Bird recording is a mere 40 minutes long...but you can play it over and over! This Uptown Jazz Records presentation includes a 30 page booklet with notes by Ira Gitler, describing how the priceless acetate discs were discovered and turned into this compact disc project. Photos are from the Frank Driggs Collection and reprints of concert reviews from the NYC press. Also included are some technical notes by Ted Kendall, who is responsible for this remastering.
JANA
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy It!, 22 Aug 2007
An album like this comes along and is often a disappointment, however slight
However, this CD has one extraordinary track which is worth ten times the asking price
In "Salt Peanuts", we have one of the great performances in the whole of jazz with Charlie Parker in amazing form. No-one could possibly live with him when he played like this. I'm tempted to say it's my favourite track of his - it's certainly up there with Koko, Warming up a Riff, Parker's Mood etc. It's blazingly fast, plus Max Roach with him all the way with a style that sounds even more modern than most later recordings
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Jumpin with Symphony Syd, 25 Nov 2008
AMAZING discovery of this concert, with Bird and Gillespie at the peak of their powers, showcased in a strong group with Max Roach on drumms, Al Haig on piano and Curley Russell on bass... A must have for all classical and early modern jazz fans... No wonder Ira Gitler's liner notes are at a loss for words (or overly verbose at times) describing the musical miracle of this CD.
After a tentatively recording start, the album very quickly takes shape as one of the most remarkable be-bop recordings I've ever heard... True, the addition of Sid Catlett instead of Roach on last two numbers (Dameron's "Hot House" and Monk's "52nd Street Theme") doesn't really uplifts the proceedings (Big Sid is a great drummer, but in this setting Max Roach is far more suitable), but the loss is insignificant; even at these two tracks the band shines brightly... "Salt Peanuts" is given a magnificent treatment and on "Night in Tunisia" Diz plays with more subtlety than in many of the future recordings...
I won't try to expand on the previous reviewers' explanation, I'd just like to add that the atmosphere of the era is very well recorded, not just the music! For, in the beginning, Bird is late for the gig and Don Byas on tenor sax starts Bebop, but Parker appears in the middle of the song and takes charge... Don, a great player himself, wisely fades from the stage, for in the company of these two trumpet and alto-sax dragons he could hardly give enough fire...
The booklet is very charming and informative, with all sorts of texts, including the reprinted comments of the contemporary critics who complained about the organization of the concerts, where the star attractions don't show up, or they show up visibly "high"... The CD is published within a "Flashback series" of Uptown company; boy if there were only more flashbacks like this one!
P.s. - the back of the CD states that Catlett replaces Roach on tracks 5 and 6; the right numbers are 6 and 7.
There are also interesting technical and historical notes about the Town Hall concerts and the discovery of this recording included in the beautifully designed and well illustrated booklet.
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