Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker Quintet - Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945

Uptown 27.51

Even with nearly a century’s worth of recordings at their fingertips --a sum far beyond what any one person could reasonably consume in a lifetime-- jazz fans still pine for lost finds. The last couple years have been particularly kind in this regard with not one, but two, epochal archival discoveries: a live recording of Trane with Monk that purportedly eclipses its fidelity-impaired precursor on Blue Note in virtually every way, and this airshot from a June 22, 1945 Town Hall gig by the Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker Quintet. I haven’t yet heard the former trove and therefore can’t comment on its associative claims. But Town Hall more than earns all the brouhaha surrounding its emergence and release.

The back-story reads right out of an R. Crumb or Harvey Pekar comic. Record collector receives a mysterious call relating the availability of several Charlie Parker acetates for purchase. His encyclopedic knowledge of Bird’s discography pinpoints the bounty as an unreleased concert and he quickly acquires transfers of the platters. Professionally recorded and without gaps or major blemishes, the music completely surpasses his expectations. It’s the sort of divine providence that instantly becomes the province of jazz lore. The sad news for collectors is that the concert’s second half featuring Errol Garner’s band remains unreleased thanks to the unwillingness of the pianist’s estate to greenlight its circulation. But any grousing is a case of sour grapes when the available wine is this fine.

The gig is dominated by Dizzy’s tunes and times at an economical LP length of forty or so minutes. Unfortunately it also has the boorish Symphony Sid as loquacious emcee. Al Haig occupies the piano bench with Curley Russell handling bass and Max Roach at the drum kit. The band sounds marvelous, though there is a liminal stretch where the sound engineer fiddles a bit with the balance in the opening bars of “Bebop” to bring the horns in line with the rhythm section. Don Byas’ tenor joins the frontline on this number, initially as a stopgap for the perpetually tardy Parker. It’s only a tantalizing taste and he drops out before the return to the theme.

Parker’s alto exercises the agility of a jackrabbit, bounding through the changes of “A Night in Tunisia,” but it’s Gillepsie’s muted cadenza that elicits the rousing ovation. Even Russell’s strings are cleanly audible, a circumstance not present on the various contemporary recordings from the left coast issued on labels like Spotlite and Savoy. Haig is still a bit wet behind the ears when it comes to the harmonic rigors of bop, but he collects plenty of solo room and ramps things up on a riotous rendering of “Salt Peanuts.” That tune also features some ferocious Roach and arguably Parker’s most incandescent improvisations of the night. Sid Catlett sits in on the two closing tracks and his flamboyant stick play sustains the heat on a burning version of “Hot House.” The band signs the set off with Monk’s “Fifty Second Street Theme,” rendered in a terse 2:14.

In usual Uptown fashion the packaging and documentation is exemplary with essays by Ira Gitler and Bob Sunenblick (the lucky finder) as well as ancillary photos and clippings depicting Bird, Diz and sidemen (all looking svelte in their suits with youthful kissers) ready to unwittingly turn the jazz world on its collective ear. Any fan of bebop won’t need the push to pull the trigger, but casual listeners will find this set well worth the necessary green as well. With two gold strikes and counting, the next big bonanza can’t be that far behind.

~ Derek Taylor