Charlie Parker at 100: Part 4

This week, I'm celebrating Charlie Parker's upcoming centenary on August 29 by posting on what I believe are the alto saxophonist's five major contributions to jazz and the culture in general. In Part 1, I posted about Parker's invention of bebop with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945. In Part 2, I posted on Parker's popularization of high-speed improvisation. In Part 3, I posted on how Parker turned the blues into a seductive, lyrical form.

Today, I'm posting on how Parker became the first modern jazz musician to cross over and unite jazz and pop in a commercial album format—a nifty combination that continues to this day.

Before the Dave Pell Octet's songbook series began in 1953, before Buddy DeFranco's Gershwin album in 1954, before Ella Fitzgerald's famed songbook series began in 1956—before all of them, there was Charlie Parker and Strings, a 10-inch album produced by Norman Granz for Mercury and recorded in 1949. This album was followed by Charlie Parker With Strings Part 2, recorded in 1950.

To understand how big a deal this was, you need to understand how the record industry's three major labels operated in the late 1940s. Up until 1948, records by Columbia, RCA and Decca (along with those by smaller labels) were sold in one format—78rpm. The relatively heavy, brittle shellac discs could hold only three minutes and change on each side. For classical and top-selling pop artists, major record labels issued groups of multiple 78s in packages that looked like photo albums. Hence, the name “album."

In 1948, Columbia unveiled the 10-inch long-playing album by Columbia to meet the growing demand by consumers for a format they didn't have to flip over as often. As the LP caught on, pop became a more commercially successful genre. The suburbs were being developed as veterans received favorable home loans under the G.I. Bill, interest in going out to dance slowed, and a wave of newlyweds raising families remained home. The music that young suburban adults favored to ease the stress of commuting and cleaning was the blander and more soothing pop.

During this period, pop dominated and modern jazz was relegated mostly to subsidiary imprints and a surge of independent labels that emerged in 1944. Also in 1948, Granz signed an deal with Mercury, an indy label started in 1945. The agreement was for Mercury to promote and distribute Granz's Clef albums, most notably his Jazz at the Philharmonic series and other jazz records. What made Mercury so attractive to Granz was its power in the jukebox industry, especially in Black markets. \

Charlie Parker signed with Granz in 1947, and his first strings recording actually was an accident. Neal Hefti was recording a strings original at Carnegie Hall when Parker wandered on stage from his own recording session to listen, heard Hefti and was so moved he began to accompany the strings. Granz decided to record them together.

It's unclear whether the original Hefti composition was entitled Repetition or that's what they wound up callingit when Hefti played it twice—once with just the orchestra and a second time with Parker soloing. Hearing Parker backed by strings gave Granz an idea.

In 1949 (following the 1948 recording ban), Granz had Parker solo on six songbook standards backed by strings. Several of the songs, notably April in Paris and Just Friends, were jukebox hits thanks to Mercury's influence. The following July, Parker recorded eight more songbook standards with strings. These popular albums would become the basis for thousands of jazz-pop “with strings" albums that followed in the decades ahead.

Here's Charlie Parker soloing on Neal Hefti's Repetition in December 1947. The first run-through is just Hefti conducting the orchestra, the second is with Parker...



Here's Parker playing Just Friends on November 30, 1949, arranged and conducted by Jimmy Carroll with Mitch Miller on oboe...



Here's Parker playing April in Paris from the same session...



Here's Parker playing Everything Happens to Me from the same session...



In July 1950, here's Dancing in the Dark, arranged and conducted by Joe Lipman...



Here's Parker playing Laura from the same session...



And here's Parker playing I'm in the Mood for Love from the same session...



Bonus1: The jazz-pop concept Parker pioneered with strings were so popular, he toured with an ensemble playing songs from the albums. Here's Bird playing Laura with strings at Birdland in 1951...



Bonus2: Here's a tribute to Charlie Parker with strings by the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra last year...