Charlie Parker

Jazz At Massey Hall Charlie Parker Coloured edition

The masters of bebop reunited for a single unforgettable

1953 concert at Canada's Massey Hall. It was a unique

experience in many ways. Organized by a local club of

jazz fans and poorly publicized, the attendance was far

below capacity (only 700 out of 2500 seats were filled).

Another reason behind the low attendance had to do

with the scheduling of the concert on the same night

as a heavyweight championship boxing match (even

Parker and Gillespie left the stage in mid-concert to

watch the fight on television, leading to an extremely

long intermission). Getting the musicians to play wasn't

easy either. By that time Bud Powell was in New York's

Bellevue Hospital, coping with one of his bouts of

mental illness. He was released by his manager and

guardian, Birdland's owner Oscar Goodstein. When the

musicians arrived at the airport, they discovered that

they weren't provided with enough tickets (the organizers

hadn't contemplated the fact that Mingus' wife Celia

and Goodstein would have to travel with the group). As

a result, Parker and Gillespie stayed behind and waited

for the following flight to Toronto. When the two leaders

arrived in Canada, it was discovered that Bird didn't have

a saxophone, so a Grafton plastic alto was borrowed from

a local music store! Despite the numerous obstacles, the

concert produced truly splendid music. The performance

was nonprofessionally recorded by Charles Mingus

himself, who released it soon after on his own label Debut.

Mingus, however, was dissatisfied with the way his bass

had been recorded, so he overdubbed a new bass line

that went on the released sides. Unfortunately, the new

line overshadowed the sound of the other instruments.

This re-release presents all of the quintet tracks from the

Massey Hall sets (a few trio tracks were also performed) in

their concert order and as originally recorded, without the

dubbed bass line that Mingus would add later.

Charlie Parker, Alto Sax

Dizzy Gillespie, Trumpet

Bud Powell, Piano

Charles Mingus, Bass

Max Roach, Drums

Live At Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, May 15, 1953.