Charlie “Bird” Parker recorded with strings for Norman Granz's Clef label on three separate dates—in November 1949, July 1950 and January 1952. The strings on the first studio session were arranged by Jimmy Carroll while the latter two were orchestrated by Joe Lipman. [Photo above of Ken Peplowski by Bruce Lindsay]
Here's Parker playing Jimmy Carroll's wonderful arrangement of Just Friends...
Back in 2016, Carl Woideck told me there were other string arrangements written for Parker that were never recorded. I was blown away. Carl took out a spreadsheet and showed me. Fast forward to today and Ken Peplowski's marvelous new album, Unheard Bird (Arbors), which features 14 tracks of string arrangements, all but one written for Parker but left behind by the famed alto saxophonist.
The title is a tad misleading, since Repetition was indeed "heard" after Bird's recording in 1947 and on tour with a string section, as was Summertime and Gold Rush. And You Must Believe in Spring, was written by Michel Legrand in 1967, long after Parker's death.
Lots of questions, right? Who discovered these arrangements and where, who arranged them, why weren't they recorded by Bird and how did they find their way to Ken and his new album?
The story starts with Jazz Lines Publications and their website ejazzlines.com which has the largest collection of big band arrangements, jazz scores, combo charts and so much more. [Photo above of Charlie Parker conducting the strings during a concert performance]
Ken Peplowski: Jazz Lines Publications seeks original manuscripts to publish. When possible, they acquire original scores and/or parts and "cleans them up—meaning to fix any obvious mistakes.
I have been performing the classic "Bird With Strings" arrangements at Birdland every August, so on a whim last year, I glanced over the latest Jazz Line Publications and saw two or three titles that were arranged for Bird sessions but had not recorded. So I went online and called ejazzlines.
They informed me that they had about 20 arrangements. [Note: Clark Gibson already recorded all these arrangements in 2015 on "Bird with Strings: The Lost Arrangements."] They went back through them to make they were up to current standards.
Rob DuBoff, co-owner of Jazz Lines: We had worked on and published these arrangements years ago, but decided in advance of Ken's recording date we wanted to have the opportunity to take a fresh look at them. We're better at what we do now, so we felt there were areas that could be cleaned up. Some we haven't "officially" published due to copyright licensing issues, but they were already completed for in-house study. Listening to Ken's album, his is definitely the best interpretation of these "lost" Bird charts.
Ken Peplowski: I had to cut some, as they were a bit too overly ambitious and would have needed major re-writing. As to why Bird didn't record these, it's a little mystifying. It could be that they overlapped with his last strings date and Norman Granz preferred his tried and true arrangers. Or he simply didn't want to spend more money on big projects at that time
Rob DuBoff: Most likely Bird—due to the success of the initial 1949 recording session—had to assemble a touring library of charts. So, he reached out to guys that he frequently saw on 52nd Street and had them each write charts for him. According to Alice Russell, Bird never paid her husband, George, the $50 for the arrangement of "Ezz-Thetic." Keep in mind that a few were written for the 1949 strings date, such as "They Didn't Believe Me" and "Stardust." Bird rehearsed them but scrapped them.
Ken Peplowski: I'm sure Bird had these written for the smaller instrumentation of five strings, harp, oboe and rhythm section so he could tour with this unit and make some money. But some of these may always remain a mystery as to why they were arranged but not recorded. I was very proud to be a part of this.
Rob DuBoff: They weren't used because they didn't suit what Bird was trying to achieve, and he had stopped touring with the strings ensemble when many were scored. They also had problems that Bird and his musicians weren't going to take the time to deal with in the studio. Many had serious copying mistakes that would have taken time to sort out.
What's more, many didn't feature Bird enough. That was a problem with "I Cover the Waterfront," for example. There's almost no solo space for Bird. And while Ken didn't record the Johnny Carisi arrangement of "I've Got You Under My Skin," it is strange and would not have fit with Bird's approach.
We find this a lot with all shelved material. Usually there is a good reason a section was cut or an arrangement was scrapped and not recorded.
Jeff Sultanof (composer, conductor, editor and writer who works with Jazz Lines Publications to prepare music for publication): I've lectured on the "Bird with Strings" library, most notably at a JEN convention a few years ago. The collection is housed at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, and Rob DuBoff believes they were donated by the widow of Bird's manager. (Photo of Jeff Sultanof above)
It is one of the most popular collections at the Institute, to the extent that what can be examined are copies of the originals. You'd be surprised what disappears from collections all over the world. The originals are safely stored away.
Rob photocopied everything in the collection, licensed the copyrights and published most of the recorded arrangements as some of his first catalog items. At some point, with the well-known titles in print, he began digging into the arrangements that weren't played and/or recorded by Parker, which of course are the titles on Ken's CD.
In many cases, the original parts had numerous mistakes that needed examination and cleaning. Very often with ensemble music, when a title is run through and has mistakes, missing bars, and other errors in the parts, the chart is simply set aside.
Other instances are simply that Bird didn't like them and didn't want to play them. Vintage big-band libraries are loaded with arrangements that have musical problems that no one really wants to solve.
Rob DuBoff: For example, Harry James loved Count Basie, so in 1960 he hired Thad Jones, Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins to write a bunch of material for his library. But an opportunity to record these charts never came up. Harry James did record an album called "New Versions of Down Beat Favorites" that were all Thad Jones arrangements of standards.
Jeff Sultanof: I think my favorite of all of the "new: Parker with strings Ken recorded is George Russell's "Ezz-thetic," primarily because there is so little George Russell out there, and this is one of the few things he wrote for strings. But all of them were special to prepare.
I am proud of all of the music Jazz Lines publishes, because it is finally made available to musicians, conductors and students and doesn't just sit on a shelf somewhere. Rob first published the recorded titles, and then figured out which others he could get the rights to.
While entering them into Finale, the music notation software, he noted the errors and went about fixing them. Some were obvious note errors, some not so obvious. Sometimes we'd discuss them together. We deal with this all the time.
There are many instances where you can hear note errors buried in ensembles when they are recorded. Norman Granz was notorious for letting errors go; if Ella Fitzgerald's vocal was good, he just moved on to the next song.
It's our job to get them right, finally.
A couple of the arrangements were written for the original 1949 date arranged by Jimmy Carroll and not recorded. "Stardust" was too long and was later played by Bird live, but it was common for arrangements to be cut to fit a single side of a 78. You couldn't go over 3:30. T
The arrangement of "Temptation" for Bird was longer and had to be cut, as an example; there is an alternate take that is complete that has been issued. We published the complete arrangement.
These things go into the Jazz Lines catalog the moment they are finished, so they've been selling for a while. Ken contacted Rob, who supplied parts transposed for tenor sax and clarinet. That was easy given that they were in Finale.
Using the software, it takes seconds to prepare and print them out. We were, of course, delighted Ken was doing this. It alerts more people that these things are available.
Ken had a gig before Covid where he played the "Bird with Strings" arrangements on tenor sax. I'm sure many others are playing these arrangements on instruments other than the alto saxophone. Ken of course plays them beautifully; he's one of my favorite musicians.
Yes Ken does and yes he is. All of the arrangements, except the last, were written for Bird. The note in parenthesis lets you know whether he recorded them and, if so, the context):
- Gold Rush (composed/arranged by Gerry Mulligan) (Played live by Bird)
- Ezz-Thetic (composed/arranged by George Russell) (Not played by Bird)
- I Cover the Waterfront (arranged by Ed Herzog) (Not played by Bird)
- Gone With the Wind (arranged by John Lewis) (Not played by Bird)
- Summertime (arranged by Jimmy Carroll) (From the 1949 session)
- Love Walked In (arranged by Joe Lipman) (Not played by Bird)
- When I Dream of You (arranged by John Bartee) (Not played by Bird)
- Moon Mist (arranged by Tom Whaley) (Not played by Bird)
- They Didn't Believe Me (arranged by Jimmy Carroll) (Rehearsed by Bird)
- You Go to My Head (arranged by Ed Herzog) (Not played by Bird)
- Yesterdays (arranged by John Bartee) (Not played by Bird)
- Stardust (arranged by Jimmy Carroll) (From the 1949 session)
- Repetition (composed/arranged by Neal Hefti) (Played live by Bird)
- You Must Believe in Spring (arranged by Mark Lopeman) (Unrelated to Bird)
Listening to Ken's album, you hear the tenor saxophone and clarinet at its best. In Ken's hands, the songs softly swing. To Parker's credit, the songs he skipped didn't have that something extra for his romantic interpretation. But with Ken, he has a more contemporary take, avoiding Bird's approach and leaving the arrangements as a quaint backdrop as he navigates songs on his own terms. Swell trumpet by Terrell Stafford and conducting by Loren Schoenberg. And kudos to the glorious strings.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Ken Peplowski's Unheard Bird (Arbors) here and on most major online streaming platforms.
JazzWax tracks: Here's Love Walked In...
Here's They Didn't Believe Me...
And here's Ezz-Thetic...
