Home » Jazz Articles » Leo Parker
Jazz Articles about Leo Parker
Forgotten Saxophonists on their Centennial: Harold Ashby, Leo Parker, Sahib Shihab & Dave Pell
by Larry Slater
There are a remarkable number of important jazz artists born 100 years ago, and in this hour we'll celebrate saxophonists who have been largely overlooked.The tenor saxophonist Harold Ashby is best known for his years in the Ellington saxophone section. Though he recorded as a leader infrequently, he became a major soloist in the orchestra's final years.Dave Schildkraut was an alto saxophonist whose sound was often compared to Charlie Parker's. Bill Evans said, “As far as ...
Continue ReadingRollin' With Leo
by Richard J Salvucci
Leo Parker may not be a name that instantly springs to mind in the world of late 1940s bebop. There was one point, in 1948, however, when serious people, like Barry Ulanov, regarded Parker as the best baritone saxophonist around--in company with Charlie Parker and Fats Navarro. That is fancy company, so it is worth asking why he is so little remembered today? Parker was a contemporary of the now better known (or at least remembered) ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: The Birth of Bop
by Richard J Salvucci
Someone famously called jazz the sound of surprise, but all too often, what is on offer is the dull hum of routine. Or something like that. This historic reissue is, however, anything but routine. This is not the first time that Teddy Reig's Savoy sides have been reissued (was he also the mysterious Buck Ram listed as producing one track?), but Craft Recordings took a lot of trouble to produce this very fine selection. If a listener were, ...
Continue ReadingLeo Parker: Rollin' With Leo – 1961
by Marc Davis
What if I told you there's a saxman who was there at the birth of bebop--literally, he played on the very first bebop recording--and you've never heard of him? And what if I told you his life story is the very archetype of the tragic, drug-addicted jazz musician? Would you still want to hear his music? Listen anyway. Rollin' With Leo by baritone saxman Leo Parker is an obscure pleasure. Lately, I've been listening to it ...
Continue ReadingLeo Parker: Let Me Tell You 'Bout It
by Chris May
An uncomplicated, booting, bass-register driven melange of first generation bop and early R&B, Let Me Tell You 'Bout It is baritone saxophonist Leo Parker's finest surviving work, and it's measurably enhanced in this edition by Rudy Van Gelder's 2004 remastering.
Parker came up through the swing/jump band nexus--his most regular employer during the '40s was Illinois Jacquet--but frequently crossed over into more or less pure bop during the latter part of the decade, working with Tadd Dameron, J.J. Johnson, Fats ...
Continue Reading
