Released: 1997
Tracks: Groovin’ High; All the Things You Are; Dizzy Atmosphere; Salt Peanuts; Shaw ‘Nuff; Hot House; Now’s the Time; Ko Ko; Moose the Mooche; Yardbird Suite; Ornithology; Cool Blues; Relaxin’ At Camarillo; Donna Lee; Chasing the Bird; Dewey Square; Bird of Paradise; The Hymn; Embraceable You; Klactoveedsedstene; Scrapple From the Apple; Out of Nowhere; Don’t Blame Me; Quasimado; Klaunstance; Parker’s Mood; Bloomdido; Star Eyes; She Rote; My Little Suede Shoes; Confirmation; Blue ‘N’ Boogie; ‘Round Midnight; Night in Tunisia; Just Friends; What is This Thing Called Love?; East of the Sun; Laura
Best track: Salt Peanuts
Track to skip: don’t, it’s all good
So much excellent music is contained in this collection! If you have an interest in Charlie “Bird” Parker, or Jazz in general, this is something you should pick up. Actually, this will make you want to pick up some of Dizzy Gillespie’s music as well. This 2 disc set brings together a bunch of different material from Parker’s recorded output. It’s nice because there’s music from a bunch of different labels here, so you get a wide cross-section of Parker’s music.
From early stuff with Dizzy, which is especially excellent, to the beginnings of Miles Davis (before he went out on his own), to Parker’s later music before his death in 1955, this collection really hits on all the good stuff. All the songs are good in their own right, so it’s hard to pick favorites. There’s just something about Salt Peanuts that really gets me going; I absolutely love it. As expected, the playing by Bird and Dizzy (and everyone else, but especially those two) are excellent. And when I say ‘excellent’, I truly mean top-notch playing. This is a whole collection of music that changed jazz for the better. Bird and Dizzy pretty much invented Be-Bop, one of the more exciting styles of jazz.
I don’t have that many jazz albums, and I’m still learning what it’s all about, but this collection is pretty easy to grasp if you’re not already well-versed in jazz. Everything is very melodic and the songs these guys wrote are all great. Highly recommended.
Rating: 94
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