Jazz At Massey Hall (Yellow Vinyl) Coloured edition
Charlie Parker
Jazz At Massey Hall (Yellow Vinyl) Coloured edition
Charlie Parker
The masters of bebop reunited for a single unforgettable
1953 concert at Canada's Massey Hall. It was a unique
experience in many ways. Organized by a local club of
jazz fans and poorly publicized, the attendance was far
below capacity (only 700 out of 2500 seats were filled).
Another reason behind the low attendance had to do
with the scheduling of the concert on the same night
as a heavyweight championship boxing match (even
Parker and Gillespie left the stage in mid-concert to
watch the fight on television, leading to an extremely
long intermission). Getting the musicians to play wasn't
easy either. By that time Bud Powell was in New York's
Bellevue Hospital, coping with one of his bouts of
mental illness. He was released by his manager and
guardian, Birdland's owner Oscar Goodstein. When the
musicians arrived at the airport, they discovered that
they weren't provided with enough tickets (the organizers
hadn't contemplated the fact that Mingus' wife Celia
and Goodstein would have to travel with the group). As
a result, Parker and Gillespie stayed behind and waited
for the following flight to Toronto. When the two leaders
arrived in Canada, it was discovered that Bird didn't have
a saxophone, so a Grafton plastic alto was borrowed from
a local music store! Despite the numerous obstacles, the
concert produced truly splendid music. The performance
was nonprofessionally recorded by Charles Mingus
himself, who released it soon after on his own label Debut.
Mingus, however, was dissatisfied with the way his bass
had been recorded, so he overdubbed a new bass line
that went on the released sides. Unfortunately, the new
line overshadowed the sound of the other instruments.
This re-release presents all of the quintet tracks from the
Massey Hall sets (a few trio tracks were also performed) in
their concert order and as originally recorded, without the
dubbed bass line that Mingus would add later.
Charlie Parker, Alto Sax
Dizzy Gillespie, Trumpet
Bud Powell, Piano
Charles Mingus, Bass
Max Roach, Drums
Live At Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, May 15, 1953.
180GR. YELLOW VINYL
Media | Music VINYL LP (Vinyl) |
Number of records | 1 |
Released | April 17, 2020 |
EAN/UPC | 8436563182747 |
Label | BIRDS NEST 840101 |
Genre | Jazz |
Dimensions | 305 × 313 × 4 mm · 256 g |
Track list
-
- Perdido (Juan Tizol-hans Lengsfelder-ervin Drake) 8:16
- Salt Peanuts (Dizzy Gillespie-kenny Clarke) 7:37
- All the Things You Are (Jerome Kern-oscar Hammerstein Ii) 7:
- 52nd Street Theme (Thelonious Monk) 0:42
- Wee (Aka Allen's Alley) (Denzil Best) 6:47
- Hot House (Tadd Dameron) 9:10
- A Night in Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie-frank Paparelli) 7:33