New Bird Reissues

CHARLIE PARKER: On Dial Volume 1: West Coast Days (EMI/JAPAN 6875)

Diggin' Diz; Moose The Mooche; Yardbird Suite; Ornithology; Famous Alto Break; A Night In Tunisia; Max Making Wax; Lover Man; The Gypsy; Bebop; This Is Always; Dark Shadows; Bird's Nest; Hot Blues (Cool Blues); Cool Blues( Hot Blues); Relaxin'At Camarillo; Cheers; Carvin' The Bird; Stupendous.

CHARLIE PARKER: On Dial Volume 2: New York Days (EMI/JAPAN 6876)

Dexterity; Bongo Bop; Prezology (Dewey Square); Superman (The Hymn); Bird Of Paradise; Klact-oveeseds-tene; Scrapple From The Apple; My Old Flame; Out Of Nowhere; Don't Blame Me; Drifting On A Reed; Quasimodo; Charlie's Wig; Bongo Beep; Crazeology; How Deep Is The Ocean.

If I "know" certain jazz records, I tend not to listen to them all that frequently. When, for whatever reason, I do return to them there are sometimes things I missed the first time, passages I had delighted in but had forgotten or questions that arise that haven't been answered to my satisfaction.

Certainly, the Dial masters of Charlie Parker are among the best known modern jazz recordings. Like the Savoy masters, these are favorite records of mine-just for pure listening pleasure. I have collected them in various configurations since the 1950s.

When something new is issued on this material I tend to seek it out. Unlike LP collectors who prize the original edition, CD collectors tend to desire the most recent edition because of the (potentially) improved audio. While I have a substantial LP collection, I tend to prefer the convenience of CD these days. And when I heard that Japanese EMI had undertaken a "master takes" reissue of the material I decided to check it out.

A few words about the packaging: these are chronologically programmed, individual CDs, organized by geographical location-an approach that is new and one that works extremely well. The notes are in Japanese and there is no English translation. The cover art uses the same photograph that appeared on the Dial 10" LPs. The designation and spelling of the tune titles are as given above and may well relate to the titles as originally issued in Japan.

Consider that Charlie Parker was not yet a bandleader during his California stay. Most of those sessions were organized, at least in part, by Howard McGhee and were pick-up groups, assembled for the recording sessions. The New York sessions were by Parker's working quintet with Davis, Jordan, Potter and Roach (JJ Johnson was added to the cast for the final date). In addition, all the New York sides were recorded at WOR, one of the best studios in the city at that time. Apart from "Diggin' Diz", the Los Angeles dates were split between Radio Recorders (the best in LA) and C.P. McGregor, which is ok for the most part. But what is truly unusual is that it appears that the same source was used for these CDs as was used for the two most recent CD reissues of this material (the 2000 release, THE COMPLETE SAVOY AND DIAL STUDIO RECORDINGS on Savoy and its 2002 companion, THE COMPLETE SAVOY AND DIAL MASTER TAKES)! There is a Dial SPOTLITE logo on the labels indicating that Tony Williams must be involved.

Williams is the Englishman who started SPOTLITE and produced so many splendid reissues in the 1970s. He reissued the entire Dial label by the time he had finished. He never had rights to the material although he did have a deal with Ross Russell, the original Dial owner, which seemed to provide some cover for his operation.

Russell, who issued SPOTLITE compilations in American editions on a revived Dial, had sold his interest back in the 1950s to Crowell-Collier-McMillan, who at that time was operating a record label called Concert Hall with a mail order division, The Jazztone Society. This information is not of any great importance except to state that the Jazztone LPs used the original Dial acetate masters. With one possible exception, this was the last time the original masters were used for an LP release. When EMI issued the Dial material in Japan they used SPOTLITE LP masters.

Teddy Reig had produced Charlie Parker for Savoy. In 1955,when Reig was running Roost records he entered into a deal with Concert Hall/Jazztone which, as best I can piece it together, involved a perpetual license to Jazztone for mail-order sale only of certain Roost masters in exchange a perpetual license for retail sale only to Roost of certain masters owned by Concert Hall/Jazztone. Among the latter were Erroll Garner and Art Tatum masters and the Charlie Parker Dial sides that appeared on Roost 2210. Were the acetates used on this reissue?

Roost was later sold to Roulette and Roulette was later sold to EMI. Did Roost retain the Dial acetate masters if they used them at all? If they remained with Jazztone, were they included in the sale of Jazztone to a Swiss company who was operating Jazztone, under that banner as late as the late 1980s? These are questions that remain unanswered. If those acetates still exist, a long shot at best, they need to be found and fresh transfers attempted. There is annoying surface noise on "Diggin' Diz" and cymbal swish (indicating that a tape master was used) on "Bird Feathers" which is amplified in the excellent mastering on these CDs. Compared to the sound on the Savoy issues mentioned earlier, these CDs are vastly superior. Imagine how great they could sound if the original source material was available to use. Until that time comes, this is likely to be the best sounding version of classics such "Bird of Paradise" available anywhere.

BP