Charlie Parker - Jam Session

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This is not a Charlie Parker album. He does not lead the band, he has no compositions on the CD, and he is assigned no more solo space than the rest of the gang. Parker, in fact, founded a completely different kind of music than that presented here.

If you want a nice, easy to listen to jam session record featuring a collection of true legends on their various instruments, this is certainly a good one. The solos are well crafted, the rhythm section support is first rate, and everybody gets to stretch out. On the downside, there's little true engagement or interplay between the horns, and the riffing is unadventuresome. And the remastering (if any) leaves this with somewhat muddy sound.

But if you want to discover Charlie Parker, well, on this record he's just a member of the gang. The Bird was pretty well grounded by 1952. So if you want the not-so-nice Parker of fame and legend; if you want the Bird if full flight, you absolutely must get Charlie Parker: A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948. After listening to it for a while, I find Jam Session pretty bland fare. And despite the notoriously poor conditions under which the Chronicle recordings were made, the sound is actually better.

Hard to assign stars to this. As a late night balm to soothe the savage breast: 5 stars. As an interesting lab for comparative saxophone playing: 4 stars. As a "jazz" record: 3 stars. As a Charlie Parker record: 2 stars. Then knock off a star for the mediocre recording quality (I know the Verve masters are better than this!)

Footnote: I do have an old copy of Jam Session, so if someone out there has a new copy that sounds better, please post a comment to this review. November 21, 2007

Great session.

It is great session.
For me it is the best jam session ever recorded at studio. And mainly there play together three best alto players ever - Johnny Hoges, Benny Carter and Charlie Parker and play great. But there is perfect playing by other musicians like Oscar Peterson, Ben Webster or Flip Phillips. This cd includes two blues and two ballads. Highpoint is Funky Blues wroten by Hodges. All musicians play two blues choruses except base, drums and Oscar Peterson plays 3 choruses.
All plays great but Parker's alto solo is superb with accuracy and deep-felt. It's must for every Hodges or Parker fans, but for all who loves great jam sessions with great jazz names too.
April 11, 2007

Jazz the Prez way more than the Bird way.

This is an absolutly marvellous example of what Jazz was and still should be (not because it's more mainstream than bebop, in any case I love them both). The joy of playing with friends on common grounds, the standards and blues repertoire. I think I own everything Bird has ever played/released or at least I come really near. All the Dial, Savoy, Verve, Benedetti recordings, Bird's Eyes, Live & Broadcasts, Blue Note concerts, recent discoveries, almost everything (more than 150 cds). This album cannot be considered a pure Bird album because he shared the scene with a lot of other sax stars which gave the session a different feeling from a lot of Bird's records. I mean that this album is more Jazz "the Kansas City way" than bebop. It is a session more traditional than bebop. The only true beboppers are Bird, Kessel and Peterson (and Brown of course). The others, Webster, Hodges, Carter etc are more traditional than strictly bebop so the overall sound is more on that side of course. But it's not a complaint, only an obvious consideration. The album is really fresh and entertaining, you can compar eit to a lot of JATP sessions in a sense. So it's not a "revolutionary" album, not one that set a standard or that marked a change in Jazz history, nevertheless it's essential in its way. It is a perect representation of what Jazz was more at Lester Young time than Bird time, but it's very very good. It deserves 5 stars absolutly. Every player shined here and found his time to strecht out and show his bags of tricks fully. One of the highlights is the comping by Oscar Peterson swing machine which gave to the session a fabolous imprinting. The program is damn good. Two very long blues tunes, a very beautiful standard ("What is this thing" one of the standards I love the most) and a ballad medley. Fantastic! And even if Bird is playing more or less his usual cliches and nothing more, he's still Bird! I love this album, for real. Buy it, you will love it for years and years too. July 10, 2006

Not a Barry White record

I can't remember when I first heard this record, but I bought it on vinyl when I was in college. Back then it was packaged differently and was part of the Norman Granz Jazz At the Philharmonic series. At a time when every fraternity boy on campus owned Barry White records that, in theory, were supposed to render college girls helpless - I thought the Ballad Medley would prove to be a high octane substitute. The results were disappointing on many levels. College girls. Go figure. April 2, 2006

Bird And Other Top Players At Their Best

This cd is a really nice one to pick up. Not only do you have Bird doing some serious jamming but a whole line-up of the top jazz players of the period: Johnny Hodges, Oscar Peterson, and Ben Webster to name a few. The ballad medley is excellent as each player gets a song to show their stuff on, but the biggest reasons to buy this disc are the songs "Jam Blues" and "Funky Blues" which are really just extended jam sessions where all the players really get to stretch out. I would recommend buying this disc in the newly released box set titled "The Norman Granz Jam Sessions." Not only do you get this disc, but four others with all star line-ups that include Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, and Buddy Rich to name a few. So do yourself a favor and pick up the box set ASAP. You will not be disappointed. April 4, 2005

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