Lost Bird With Strings

Late Friday afternoon, I grabbed coffee with Carl Woideck, the author of Charlie Parker: His Music and Life (University of Michigan Press) and an instructor of jazz, rock and music histories at the University of Oregon. Carl is a long-time JazzWax reader. As we chatted about this and that, Carl mentioned that he had just returned from the  Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey and asked if I knew that there were many more string arrangements written for Charlie Parker than the ones recorded on Clef and Norgran. I knew that there were some that Parker only performed live in the early 1950s live once the strings format caught on.

“Yes, but there were still other arrangements written for him that he never recorded," Carl said. At which point he pulled out a spread sheet he had meticulously organized. There on the grid was a complete list of 38 songs. The list included the famed Clef studio sessions that Parker recorded for Norman Granz in Nov. 1949, July 1950 and January 1952. The first session was arranged by Jimmy Carroll while the latter two were orchestrated by Joe Lippman. Carl's list also included string arrangements of songs Parker performed only live at venues that included the Rockland Palace Dance Hall and the Apollo Theater.

But the most intriguing songs on the list were the 12 in bold. These were the ones that Parker had chosen not to record or perform at all. These included Ezz-Thetic, Gone with the Wind, I Cover the Waterfront, I Should Care, Love Walked In, Moon Mist, My Funny Valentine, Scootin', This Time The Dream's on Me, What I Dream of You, Yesterdays (with a vocal group) and You Go to My Head. There were several arrangers, including John Bartee and George Russell, who scored his own Ezz-Thetic.

Carl noted that the scores were written and were in the archives of the Institute of Jazz, that he looked at them the day before. My right eyebrow went up. Wouldn't it be great, I said, if a repertory group took these on with a superb alto saxophonist soloing. Carl said such an enterprise had already been recorded last year—The Clark Gibson Orchestra: The Lost Arrangements of Bird With Strings.

Clark is the director of jazz studios and an assistant professor of saxophone at Northeastern State University's department of music in Tahlequah, Okla. He plays the role of Parker on the album, and the results are superb. As Clark mentioned in an email, “Ejazz Lines had the arrangements in their archives but had yet to release them to the public. They agreed to get them to us last year before they were officially released. I believe they are now all available to the public thru ejazzlines.com."

As for the arrangements, Clark says “all were recorded live in the studio. There was no overdubbing or editing of parts. Track 11 was from a live performance at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign."

Hats off to Carl for superb research and a big high-five to Clark for recording such a glorious album. This album should have won a Grammy.

Pete Carney (conductor)

Solos: Clark Gibson (alto sax); Chip McNeil (tenor sax, track 2); and Evan Tammen (oboe and English horn).

Daniel Colbert, Eliana Park and Johnny Lusardi (violins); Andreas Ruiz (viola); Ben Hayek (cello); Claire Happel (harp); and Chip Stephens (piano), Samuel Peters (bass); Matthew Charles Endres (drums).

Track 9: Barkey Barksdale and Dan Wendelken (trumpet); Euan Edmonds (trombone); Jonathan Beckett (alto sax); Maddie Vogler and Pete Carney (tenor sax); Chip McNeil (baritone sax).

Track 11: Daniel Colbert, Chukyung Park, Eliana Park and Sara Sasaki (violins); Andreas Ruiz and Lauren Pellant (violas); Haeju Song (cello); Whitney Ash (piano).

Producer: Clark Gibson; assistant producers: Pete Carney and Chip McNeil

Recorded and mixed by Kevin Bourassa; mastering by Scott Steinan-Studio Media; and art and design by Pete Carney

JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Clark Gibson Orchestra: The Lost Arrangements of Bird With Strings (BluJazz) here.