Late Friday afternoon, I grabbed coffee with Carl Woideck, the author of Charlie Parker: His Music and Life (University of Michigan Press) and an instructor of jazz, rock and music histories at the University of Oregon. Carl is also a long-time JazzWax reader. As we chatted about music, Carl mentioned that he had just returned from the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey and asked if I was aware that there were string arrangements written for Charlie Parker beyond the ones he recorded in the studio for Clef. Yes, I said, I knew about the ones that Parker had performed only live in the early 1950s once his strings studio recordings had caught on.
"Yes those," Carl said, "but there were other arrangements written for him with strings that he never recorded." At which point he pulled out a spread sheet he had organized based on his visit. There on the grid was a list of 38 songs. The list included the famed Clef studio sessions that Parker recorded for Norman Granz in Nov. 1949, July 1950 and January 1952. The first studio session was arranged by Jimmy Carroll while the latter two were orchestrated by Joe Lipman. Carl's list also included string arrangements of songs Parker had only performed live at venues such as the Rockland Palace Dance Hall and the Apollo Theater.
But the most intriguing songs on the list were 14 that Parker never recorded or performed at all. These included Ezz-Thetic, Gone with the Wind, I Cover the Waterfront, I Should Care, I've Got You Under My Skin, Love Walked In, Moon Mist, My Funny Valentine, Scootin', They Didn't Believe Me, When I Dream of You, Yardbird Suite, Yesterdays (with a vocal group) and You Go to My Head.
According to Carl and ejazzlines, arrangers for some of these were Ezz-Thetic (George Russell), I've Got You Under My Skin (Johnny Carisi), Moon Mist (Mercer Ellington), Scootin' (John Lewis), They Didn't Believe Me (Jimmy Carroll), Yardbird Suite (Gerry Mulligan), Yesterdays (John Bartee) and You Go to My Head (Ed Herzog).
My right eyebrow went up. Wouldn't it be great, I said, if a repertory group took these unheard string arrangements and added a superb alto saxophonist soloing. Carl said such an album had already been recorded last year—The Clark Gibson Orchestra: The Lost Arrangements of Bird With Strings.
Clark Gibson (above) is the director of jazz studios and an assistant professor of saxophone at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla. He plays the role of Parker on the album, and the results are superb. As Clark mentioned to me in an email after I reached out over the weekend, "Ejazzlines had the arrangements in their archives but had yet to release them to the public. They agreed to get them to us last year before they were officially released. I believe they are now all available to the public through ejazzlines."
As for his album, Clark says "all of the arrangements were recorded live in the studio. There was no overdubbing or editing of parts. Track 11 was from a live performance at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign."
Hats off to Carl Woideck for superb research and for hipping me to the unheard Bird with strings. And a big high-five to Clark for recording such a glorious album, which should have won a Grammy last year.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Clark Gibson Orchestra: The Lost Arrangements of Bird With Strings (BluJazz) here.
JazzWax note: For those who plan to buy the CD or download the album, here's the personnel courtesy of Clark...
Pete Carney (conductor)
Solos: Clark Gibson (alto sax); Chip McNeil (tenor sax, track 2); and Evan Tammen (oboe and English horn).
Daniel Colbert, Eliana Park and Johnny Lusardi (violins); Andreas Ruiz (viola); Ben Hayek (cello); Claire Happel (harp); and Chip Stephens (piano), Samuel Peters (bass); Matthew Charles Endres (drums).
Track 9: Barkey Barksdale and Dan Wendelken (trumpet); Euan Edmonds (trombone); Jonathan Beckett (alto sax); Maddie Vogler and Pete Carney (tenor sax); Chip McNeil (baritone sax).
Track 11: Daniel Colbert, Chukyung Park, Eliana Park and Sara Sasaki (violins); Andreas Ruiz and Lauren Pellant (violas); Haeju Song (cello); Whitney Ash (piano).
Producer: Clark Gibson; assistant producers: Pete Carney and Chip McNeil
Recorded and mixed by Kevin Bourassa; mastering by Scott Steinan-Studio Media; and art and design by Pete Carney.
JazzWax clips: From Clark Gibson's album, here's They Didn't Believe Me...
And here's the breathtaking Ezz-thetic...
