Charlie Parker's 'The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection' CD (out November 6th on Craft Recordings)
Celebrating the Centennial of Charlie “Bird” Parker
With The Savoy 10-inch LP Collection from Craft Recordings Presenting the Seminal Bebop Recordings of the Jazz Pioneer
Compact Disc Edition Available for Pre-Order Today (8/27), out November 6th Vinyl and Digital Editions out Now
Click here to visit the online media kit
Click here to pre-order compact disc edition
Click here to order vinyl and digital formats
Click here for the “Charlie Parker: The Centennial Collection: playlist
Los Angeles, CA (August 27, 2020)—Craft Recordings is proud to announce the release of the compact disc edition of The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection. The collection, which spotlights Charlie Parker’s groundbreaking bebop sessions for the legendary jazz label (spanning 1944 to 1948), is already available on vinyl and digital formats. The CD edition features 28 tracks from the four legendary Savoy 10-inch LPs presented with newly restored and remastered audio and a deluxe 20-page booklet containing vintage photos, rare ephemera and liner notes from GRAMMY® Award-winning journalist and author Neil Tesser. These historic recordings, reissued as the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of Parker’s birth, feature such jazz greats as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell and Max Roach. The compact disc edition of The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection, set for a November 6th release date, is available for pre-order today.
In addition to the Savoy collection, Craft launched a special playlist, Charlie Parker: The Centennial Collection, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Parker’s birth. “Bird” lives in this choice collection of indelible jazz classics, now available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and Pandora.
When saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker and his contemporaries introduced bebop in the ’40s, they were ushering in a bold new style that would influence modern music for decades to come. Nowadays, as Neal Tesser argues in the box set’s liner notes, it’s easy to forget that bebop was considered avant-garde. “Bebop undergirds such a vast swath of American music that its revolutionary nature recedes into the background. It is now so familiar and comfortable, such an ever-present part of the family history, that non-historians can hardly envision it ever being ‘revolutionary.’” However, when listeners heard this new sound for the first time, it was unlike anything they had experienced before. Up until this point, the general public enjoyed swing-era big bands performing standards from the Great American Songbook, led by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. It’s also worth noting that—to those who were not entrenched in the jazz scene—this new style of music seemingly came out of nowhere. Though bebop evolved in the early part of the decade—cultivated in New York’s late-night jazz clubs—it didn’t appear on record until the mid-’40s, following a two-year strike by the Musicians’ Union, which banned commercial recordings for labels, due to royalty disputes.
The 28 tracks that make up The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection are some of the world’s earliest bebop recordings, including takes from a November 1945 date that is often referred to as “The Greatest Jazz Session Ever,” featuring Davis, Roach and Curley Russell appearing as “Charlie Parker’s Reboppers.” The tracks were compiled by Savoy and released over the next several years as the four LPs reissued in this box set: New Sounds In Modern Music, Volume 1 (1950), New Sounds In Modern Music, Volume 2 (1951), as well as Volumes 3 and 4, both released in 1952. Nearly all of the compositions heard in this collection are originals by Parker, with a few contributions by Miles Davis, and an original tune from guitarist Lloyd “Tiny” Grimes—who led Parker in the session for “Tiny’s Tempo.” Highlights include the upbeat “Now’s the Time,” the bluesy “Parker’s Mood” and “Constellation,” which Tessler notes “seems to anticipate the free-jazz energy solos of the 1960s.” Also notable is “Ko-Ko,” featuring an impressive improvisation from the saxophonist, as well as one of Bird’s most recognizable tunes, “Billie’s Bounce,” which was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame in 2002. Though multiple styles of bop would become mainstream by the end of the ’50s, these recordings mark the beginning of a new era and a radical shift in musical trends. It was a sound that, Tesser declares, was “at once liberating but also threatening. Charlie Parker and his fellow instigators…sparked a cultural earthquake that upended the music landscape for decades.”
Though his life and career were all too brief, Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920–1955) was ahead of his time, altering the course of music in his wake, and paving the way for hard bop, free jazz, fusion and beyond. Like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Parker was a pioneering composer and improviser who ushered in a new era of jazz and influenced subsequent generations of musicians, writers and artists. 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the saxophonist’s birth, and to celebrate his legacy, a variety of special events, performances, as well as music and art releases—collectively celebrated as “Bird 100”—are taking place throughout 2020. Many of the events planned to celebrate Parker have taken new forms.
The annual Charlie Parker Event in Kansas City, Mo., which began in 2014, will also look a bit different this year and will include a mix of in-person and virtual events. Spotlight 2020: Charlie Parker, a citywide celebration of his life and music, will take place online and at various venues around Kansas City through the end of this month. KC Jazz ALIVE, University of Missouri-Kansas City, the American Jazz Museum, KC Bier Co, Kansas City Museum, Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and numerous other cultural and civic organizations have partnered to host jam sessions, tours, lectures, exhibits, panel discussions, poetry readings, workshops and concerts celebrating Charlie Parker—Kansas City’s native son. Visit spotlightcharlieparker.org/event-schedule/ for a full list of programming and events. In-person events will follow Kansas City, MO & CDC guidelines. Masks are required where six-feet social distancing is not an option.
New York City’s nonprofit cultural and community center 92Y will mark Parker’s centennial with a multidisciplinary celebration featuring 24 hours of special events on Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. Conceived to highlight multiple facets of Parker’s genius and its profound influence on jazz and beyond, Charlie Parker: Now’s the Time—Celebrating Bird at 100 includes a screening of Clint Eastwood’s award-winning biopic “Bird,” a conversation-with-music led by eminent journalist, jazz critic and Celebrating Bird author Gary Giddins featuring saxophone greats Joe Lovano, Charles McPherson, Grace Kelly and Antonio Hart, a listening party of essential Parker recordings hosted by WBGO’s Brian Delp, the premiere of a specially commissioned dance film directed and choreographed by Hope Boykin (formerly, the Ailey company), an interdisciplinary visual arts event and more. To access all events, please visit 92Y.org/charlieparker.
Visit charlieparkermusic.com for more details about Bird 100 events.
Click here to pre-order CD version
Click here to order vinyl and digital formats
Click here for the Charlie Parker: The Centennial Collection playlist
Special exclusive bundles, including a Savoy t-shirt, available via the Craft Store
Track Listing (CD version):
1. Now’s The Time
2. Donna Lee
3. Chasin’ The Bird
4. Red Cross
5. Ko-Ko
6. Warmin’ Up A Riff
7. Half Nelson
8. Sipping At Bells
9. Billie's Bounce
10. Cheryl
11. Milestones
12. Another Hair-Do
13. Thriving From A Riff
14. Buzzy
15. Little Willie Leaps
16. Klaunstance
17. Bluebird
18. Bird Gets The Worm
19. Parker’s Mood
20. Steeplechase
21. Perhaps
22. Tiny’s Tempo
23. Constellation
24. Merry Go Round
25. Confirmation
26. Barbados
27. Ah-Leu-Cha
28. Marmaduke
About Craft Recordings:
Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most prestigious collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its rich and storied repertoire includes legendary artists such as Joan Baez, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, Nine Inch Nails, Thelonious Monk, Otis Redding, R.E.M. and Traveling Wilburys, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Concord, Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, Milestone, Musart, Nitro, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Sugar Hill, Vanguard, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation—ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord Recorded Music. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify.
###
