Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Diz 'N Bird at Carnegie Hall

This historic September 29, 1947, concert reunited Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker for five stunning performances and captures 11 selections by Dizzy's big band at the peak of its powers. Released in scattered form over the years, the complete releasable material from this important concert is brought together on CD for the first time with the best possible sound. Album Description

Diz 'n Bird dazzle

I purchased this CD to play as part of a Black History unit on musical styles through the ages. This CD fit in perfectly and was enjoyed by my students. Any time I can introduce something from the past into a lesson so the students can see how it links to the present I am happy. This definitely happened here. March 25, 2007

One of The Best Live Jazz Albums

I would rate this as one of the top 5 live jazz albums of all time. Bird and Diz are only together for the first five tunes, but don't let that deter you. They really tear it up on every song and Bird's amazing solo on "Confirmation" is probably the highlight. The remainder of the tracks is Dizzy Gillespie with his big band and while those songs aren't as exciting as the ones he does with Charlie Parker, they are still excellent. So if you're a jazz fan and you don't own this, get it. It belongs in every jazz fan's collection. July 23, 2006

2 Concerts For The Price Of One...But Not Complete

The CD is somewhat misstated to gain notoriety but who cares with great music..The 1st 5 tracks are the reunion of Diz n Bird at Carnegie Hall (1947)and the remainder the big band set..The liner notes clearly mentions that Ella Fitzgerald was singing on 6 selections omitted here as well as other selections either unrecorded properly or intentionally omitted.
December 23, 2005

Blistering, Inspiring, Untouchable: Best Bird/Diz Concert

Don't let the recent discovery and hype surrounding the 1945 Gillespie-Parker Town Hall concert discourage you from picking up the 1947 Carnegie Hall concert. The audio quality isn't markedly inferior to either the Town Hall or Massey Hall dates, and the playing by Bird and Diz is not only worlds apart from the 1945 encounter but in some instances is superior to the later, Massey Hall performance.

Listen carefully to Bird's four-bar break on "Night in Tunisia," which Martin Williams analyzed in "The Jazz Tradition." Bird alters the meter and tempo ever so slightly, an aerialist who communicates the sense of being suspended in time and space, yet suddenly becoming reanimated just in time for the first beat of the chorus. It's very likely the most melodically-rhythmically complex four bars of improvised music every recorded, deserving a place right alongside Louis Armstrong's famous cadenza at the start of "West End Blues." You won't hear anything near this level of complexity on the Town Hall session, recorded two years earlier, let alone on any non-Parker performance. (Side-by-side comparisons of Bird's break with that of numerous other "name" saxophone players at the same juncture on the same tune inevitably is a disservice to the "pretenders." Listen, for example, to Lou Donaldson with Clifford Brown on "Art Blakey at Birdland, Vol. 1." Embarrassingly awful jive--merely meaningless motion.)

The remainder of the recording gives ample evidence of the heat and mastery of Bird as well as Diz (their unison ensembles defy credibility even today). And even though Bird gets more playing time in the small-group setting, there's enough heard from Diz to bolster the case of any listener who wishes to maintain that he was superior to Parker as an improviser (an argument I still have with some musicians).

Ignore the reviews that complain about the sound quality or the limited number of tunes featuring Bird. This contains some of the most exciting and significant Bird and Diz on record--if your ears are up to the challenge. November 1, 2005

This is it!

I think that the quintet tracks on this album, which over the years have been released in a variety of forms and coupled with a variety of other material, are among the greatest jazz performances of all time. In particular, the playing and improvising in Night in Tunisia is at the highest level and, I would argue, Parker's entrance in Groovin' High is the greatest two bars of jazz in existence. I don't think it much matters what else is on the CD. August 21, 2005

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