User:Tquinn86/Charlie Parker on Savoy

Jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker recorded as a leader between 1944 and his death in 1955. The majority of his output was captured on three labels: Savoy, Dial and Clef (with reissues on Verve). This article deals with the Savoy studio sessions, which ran from 1944-1949. Live recordings of Parker were also released by Savoy (all of them posthumously); those recordings are covered elsewhere. Other similar articles deal with the Dial and Clef sessions.

The original issues from these sessions were on 78 rpm singles. Some of the early sessions were originally credited to other leaders (noted below), though all of these sessions were eventually reissued under Parker's name. With the advent of long playing record formats, these singles were compiled into albums, frequently including unreleased takes. As Parker's fame and reputation grew through the years, the sessions were recomiled several more times into complete configurations including all takes, and released on LP and CD.

The Savoy studio recordings were made over the course of 8 sessions. The name of the original group which performed each session is noted below. "Takes" refers to the number of eventually released perforances of each song. All compositions by Charlie Parker unless otherwise noted.

The Sessions
The name of the original group which performed each session is noted below. "Takes" refers to the number of eventually released perforances of each song. All compositions by Charlie Parker unless otherwise noted.

Session 1 -- The Tiny Grimes Quintette: September 15, 1944
WOR Studios, NYC Parker's first sessions on Savoy were as a sideman with the Tiny Grimes Quintette. Tiny Grimes was an guitarist who had played with Art Tatum, and became known more for R&B than jazz. The four tracks in this session were all released under Grimes name originally. The two instrumental tracks (Tiny's Tempo and Red Cross) were subsequently released under Parker's name as well. All takes were eventually (re)issued on Parker anthologies.


 * 1) "Tiny's Tempo" (Tiny Grimes, Clyde Hart) [3 takes]
 * 2) "I'll Always Love You Just the Same" (Grimes) [2 takes]
 * 3) "Romance Without Finance" (Grimes) [5 takes]
 * 4) "Red Cross" [2 takes]

Session 2 -- Charlie Parker Reboppers: November 26, 1945
WOR Studios, NYC This session is regarded as the first recordings of bebop. It is also full of controversy, as it still unknown precisely who played what on each take. It is established that Parker is the saxophonist on all takes, and that Curley Russell and Max Roach were bassist and drummer respectively, on all takes. Miles Davis certainly plays trumpet on most of the takes, but Dizzy Gillespie was also present to play piano in place of Bud Powell who was out of town. Pianist Sadik Hakim (then known as Argonne Thornton) was also known to be present, and may have played on some of the takes, though some sources say he did not play due to a Musician's Union representatives presence and Hakim\Thornton was not yet in the Union. It is fairly well established that Gillespie is the trumpeter on Ko-Ko though both 78 rpm releases of the song (Savoy 597 and 916) list Davis as trumpeter; many sources state that Gillespie replaced Miles due to the difficulty of the tune and Miles' nerves, youth and inexperience. Gillespie may have also played piano behind Parker's solo, though this is disputed. The identity of the pianist is obscured by the credit of "Hen Gates" as the pianist on all but one of the pressings. Hen Gates is a pseudonym most closely associated with pianist James Forman, who played with Gillespie, though has been associated with Gillespie as well. Here it could refer to Gillespie (who was under contract to a different label at the time of these recordings) or to Hakim\Thornton due to the aforementioned union dispute. The master take of Thriving on a Riff was released twice on 78: Savoy 913 lists the song title as "Thriving from a Riff" and lists the pianist as "Hen Gates". Savoy 945 lists the song title as "Thriving on a Riff" and lists the pianist as Dizzy Gillespie. The tune would later be known as "Anthropology." All other 78 releases from this session (Savoy 573, 597, 916, 918) list the pianist as "Hen Gates."


 * 1) "Warming up a Riff"
 * 2) "Billie's Bounce" [5 takes]
 * 3) "Now's the Time" [4 takes]
 * 4) "Thriving on a Riff" (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie) [3 takes]
 * 5) "Ko-Ko" [2 takes]
 * 6) "Meandering"

Session 3 -- Charlie Parker All Stars: May 8, 1947
Harry Smith Studios, NYC
 * 1) "Donna Lee" [5 takes]
 * 2) "Chasin' the Bird" [4 takes]
 * 3) "Cheryl" [2 takes]
 * 4) "Buzzy" (5 takes)

Session 4 -- Miles Davis All Stars: August 14, 1947
Harry Smith Studios, NYC Miles Davis' first session as a leader featured Charlie Parker on tenor saxophone, instead of his usual alto. Davis wrote all of the songs on this session.
 * 1) "Milestones" (Miles Davis) [3 takes]
 * 2) "Little Willie Leaps" (Davis) [3 takes]
 * 3) "Half Nelson" (Davis) [2 takes]
 * 4) "Sippin' at Bells" (Davis) [4 takes]

Session 5 -- Charlie Parker Quintette: December 21, 1947
United Sound Systems, Detroit, MI
 * 1) "Another Hair-Do" [4 takes]
 * 2) "Bluebird" [3 takes]
 * 3) "Klaunstance"
 * 4) "Bird Gets the Worm" [3 takes]

Session 6 -- Charlie Parker All Stars: September 18, 1948
Harry Smith Studios, NYC
 * 1) "Barbados" [4 takes]
 * 2) "Ah-Leu-Cha" [2 takes]
 * 3) "Constellation" [5 takes]
 * 4) "Parker's Mood" [5 takes]

Session 7 -- Charlie Parker All Stars: September 24, 1948
Harry Smith Studios, NYC
 * 1) "Perhaps" [7 takes]
 * 2) "Marmaduke" [11 takes]
 * 3) "Steeplechase" [2 takes]
 * 4) "Merry-Go-Round" [2 takes]

Personnel

 * Charlie Parker - alto saxophone
 * Clyde Hart - piano (session 1)
 * Tiny Grimes - guitar, vocals (session 1)
 * Jimmy Butts - double bass, vocals (session 1)
 * Doc West - drums (session 1)
 * Miles Davis - trumpet (session 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
 * Sadik Hakim - piano (session 2)
 * Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet, piano (session 2)
 * Curly Russell - double bass (session 2, 6, 7)
 * Max Roach - drums (session 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
 * Bud Powell piano (session 3)
 * Tommy Potter - double bass (session 3, 5)
 * John Lewis - piano (session 4, 6, 7)
 * Nelson Boyd - double bass (session 4)
 * Duke Jordan - piano (session 5)

Singles
Singles released by Savoy include the following:

Savoy Bop 900 Series (10 inch 78 rpm)
Savoy's 900 series was dedicated to Bebop. It featured purple labels with "Bop" added to the logo.

Slim Gaillard Orchestra: December 29, 1945
Hollywood, CA This session was recorded for the short-lived Bel-Tone label, which released these tracks on 78rpm singles. Slim Gaillard's records were acquired by Majestic Records when Bel-tone folded who reissued these records on 78s. Majestic did not last out the 1940s; Savoy then acquired the rights and reissued these tracks on 10" and 12" LPs under Parker's name.


 * 1) "Dizzy Boogie" (Dizzy Gillespie)
 * 2) "Flat Foot Floogie" (Slim Gaillard, Bud Green, Slam Stewart)
 * 3) "Poppity Pop" (Gaillard)
 * 4) "Slim's Jam" (Gaillard)

Personnel

 * Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet
 * Charlie Parker - alto saxophone
 * Jack McVea - tenor saxophone
 * Dodo Marmarosa - piano
 * Slim Gaillard - piano, guitar, vocals
 * Bam Brown - double bass, vocals
 * Zutty Singleton - drums

7 inch EPs and 10 inch LPs
As new formats became available in the early 1950's Savoy reissued all of the original 78 rpm recordings on both the 7" 45 rpm EP format and the 10" $33 1/3$ rpm LP format.

Various Artists -- The Birth of Bop, Vol. 1 (Savoy MG 9022)
This is a compilation of various bop tracks, only the first features Parker.

12 inch LPs
As the longer playing 12 inch LP format came into vogue, Savoy began to reissue the Parker catalog along with previously unreleased takes. Each of the albums listed below features various takes where available. The name of the take is as listed on the LP. The original master takes as previously released are shown in boldface.

12000 Series
The 12000 series of 12 inch LPs is Savoy's first set in this format. Within this series, multiple takes may be combined into a single LP track. These are reflected in the listings below.