Charlie Parker: At Jirayr Zorthian's Ranch, July 14, 1952

This session was not a formal concert performance, but rather an informal musical party, and thus featured plenty of relaxed improvisation and witty musical quotes. These are also the only existing recordings of Bird playing with tenor saxophonist Don Wilkerson, who would later make a name for himself on the Blue Note label, and alto saxophonist Frank Morgan. Chet Baker also makes an appearance on one track (and again, no surprise to see him there). The various combinations of musicians run through the usual suspects, like "Au Privave, "Scrapple From the Apple and "A Night in Tunisia, all for a crowd that was probably too drunk or stoned to care much about what was going on (although they seem quite invigorated by a strip tease performed during "Embraceable You ).

As wonderful as it is to have unreleased Parker material available, these recordings are about as amateur as it gets. The producers acknowledge the limitations of the source material and claim that the performances make up for it, but I found them close to unlistenable. The piano and bass are inaudible, and Parker barely makes it through the crackle and noise. True, Parker seems in good form, but it seems unlikely that anyone would check out this CD for other than mild curiosity or scholarly reasons.

No doubt Parkerophiles will snatch up these recordings, which offer a rare glimpse of a true master in about as informal a setting as one can get short of practice tapes. The rest of us can listen to the classic material already available and save ourselves the ear strain.