Search - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie :: Diz N Bird at Carnegie Hall

Great Classic Jazz CD

T. B. Vick | The Lone Star State | 01/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an awesome sounding CD for a live concert that was recorded almost fifty years ago (considering the studio technology back in 1947). Besides the fact that the CD sounds good, it also "sounds" good. Charlie Parker is, as always, awesome, and Dizzy is spectacular as well. While these men had their ups and downs between one another, they sure sound great together. Moreover, Bird and Diz also play well off of one another in a live performance, and this performance demonstrates this quite well. For instance, on track 2 "Dizzy Atmosphere" both players ping pong off of one another with great speed and brilliance. Track (#2) is in my opinion, the best on the CD. Overall, the music is moving, fast, heart felt, and wonderful. This is a great CD to add to your Jazz collection."

Blistering, Inspiring, Untouchable: Best Bird/Diz Concert

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 11/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Sensational quintet recordings, but poor sound quality.

Tom W.C Oppenheim | Victoria, Australia. | 02/22/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the few live recordings made of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie from the period when Parker was at his height. The west coast recordings made in California are scrappy, most likely due to the fact that Parker was strung out and could barely lift his horn. On this recording though, Parker is sensational. His tone is bright and uplifting. His phrasing soars and he is continually inventive; his lyricism is clear and concise and never falling back on his well known staple of licks, a tendency which characterised his later live recordings.(ie: Bird at St Nick's) Dizzy is also in fine form. My personal favourite is 'Dizzy Atmosphere'. It is taken at a furious tempo and Parker laps it up. His lines are long, rich and complex and really deserve the title 'sheets of sound' (which was coined by Ira Gitler to describe Coltrane in his pre quartet years.) The recordings have a fine jam session feel and really warm the heart. There are two drawbacks to this album. Firstly, the sound quality of the rhythm section is often so poor it is inaudible. This is particularly evident on 'Ko Ko', where Parker sounds almost as though his is practicing sets of scales unaccompanied. Without the rhythm, this sounds quite boring. Secondly, three quarters of the album is taken up by Gillespie and his big band playing watered down versions of bebop classics. However, the cd is worth purchasing for the Gillespie/Parker sides only. If you are looking for a complete Gillespie/Parker concert which has better sound quality and features more bebop greats, let me direct you to 'The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall', recording in the early fifties. Parker, however, due to his deteriorating physical and mental conditions is not quite as good as on this recording."