CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Jazz at Massey Hall

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Quintet, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Max Roach

Release Date July 01, 1991
This concert has the makings of something quite magical. Five of the best bebop musicians ever taking to the same stage. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to it's potential. Apparently Bird, Diz, and Powell were all drunk...with Bird being the worst offender. And Diz kept leaving the stage to go watch a big heavyweight boxing match that was being broadcast. Bird also forgot to bring his sax so he was playing a cheap alto borrowed from a local music store. Bud was on leave from a mental institution and required supervision, so he wasn't exactly at his best to start with. Moreover, Bird and Diz left the stage for more than half the concert leving just a trio performing. Max was impeccables that night, however, playing an amazing set with ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Concert by the Sea

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Erroll Garner

Release Date October 25, 1990
Mr. Erroll Garner was a very talented pianist. As I've said before, this man can groove with his hands (seemingly as if he had two left hands and a right hand!). Erroll was my inspiration (and still is, although he's no longer with us).

One point I failed to mention is that Mr. Garner loved to riddle his adoring fans by beginning a tune with an off-beat 60-second prelude. With this live concert album ("Concert By The Sea"), you can actually hear the audience chuckling! The man was a genius and played like one, too!

My favorites on this CD is ALL songs! I can't tune any of them off. They all deserve a 10-star on the scale.

Again, thanks to all the executives who (like me) treasure music by Mr. Erroll ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver

Release Date August 07, 2001
First of all, enough other reviewers have covered the history and make-up of this CD, so I won't do that. All I want to say is, this is a delightful and historic piece of live jazz music that simply cannot be surpassed. The players assembled make this recording one for the ages. And if you think you might enjoy this (jazz fans definitely will, I reckon), my suggestion would be to go ahead and get Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, because that includes both this CD and the volume 2 companion, plus two more CD's of Brown's work. Wonderful, wonderful jazz you'll want to share with everyone you know.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Smokin' at the Half Note

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly

Release Date February 15, 2005
This album contains one of the best performances on jazz guitar! Solos on No Blues and Impressions are simply unbelievable...His guitar must have been on fire after those performances.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Release Date August 07, 2001
I cannot say enough good things about this record. I really like the atmosphere. I like the way Blakery announces the tunes. it kind of makes you feel that you are there. This issue adds two or three songs per volume in what is a two volume series.

All of the musicians play great. The quality of the sound is excellent. My favorite songs are Prince Albert and Soft Winds.

Hank Mobley and Kenny Dorham both play wonderfully. It is one of my favorite Mobley records. The rhythm section is as good as it gets. Horace Silver is fun and funky. Blakey out does himself.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Diz 'N Bird at Carnegie Hall

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie

Release Date June 17, 1997
Before the 1945 Town Hall recordings that surfaced in 2005, this was the earliest of the two Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker live recordings. The other is "Jazz At Massey Hall" from 1953. Recorded in 1947, this CD starts with five songs by a quintet with Gillespie and Parker. Playing sure-fire Gillespie and Parker compositions, the first five songs are very good. They are only 4-5 minutes long, so there isn't the longer solos of the Town Hall concert. Gillespie and Parker both sound really good. The sound quality is okay for its time -- the rhythm section sounds distant but front-line horns come right through. After "Koko", it switches to Dizzy's big band. This makes up 48 minutes of the 73 minute CD. The sound quality suffers a bit with the larger ensemble. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Live at the Blue Note

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Oscar Peterson

Release Date September 28, 2004
These are great recordings. Currently the last available before Oscar had a stroke, which has since restricted his left hand to very minimal use. Repeated listens to these sets lead me to think that his wonderful technique was a few percentage points down on what it was in the 50's 60's or 70's. However that is virtually irrelevant as 98% Oscar Peterson is still superior to most others. This is an essential late Peterson recording for completists. It would also serve as a fine starter pack for the newcomer to the great man.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

A Night at Birdland, Vol. 2

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver

Release Date August 07, 2001
The band: Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Curly Russell, Art Blakey. (Should recognize at least Brown, Silver and Blakey - big names in jazz.)

The venue: Birdland - "Jazz Corner of the World"

The production: Rudy Van Gelder remaster of a live recording. (Hot, but clean.)

The verdict: This is a worthwhile CD and should be in every serious jazz music collector's collection in one form or another (see below). It really swings and is seriously hot live jazz by some of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play music.

The caveat: You can buy Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, which contains this CD, A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1, The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 1, and another disc of Clifford's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

At Basin Street

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Clifford Brown, Max Roach Quintet

Release Date October 25, 1990
It's been quite a while since I've listened to this album, but the ensemble choruses and solos still ring in my ears--"Love Is a Splendored Thing" (hardly a jazz vehicle but it works), "I Remember April" (perhaps rivaled only by Erroll Garner's on "Concert by the Sea"), "Gertrude's Bounce" (one of their most inspired bebop tunes--part jingle bells, part operatic melodic expansiveness). Everybody's favorite trumpet player demonstrates why he deserves to be, and Rollins brings a new kind of power, energy, and playfulness to the group.

No doubt Sonny provided much more firepower for the group's live performances and loosened up things in the recording studio with his sportive, motivic playing. But Harold Land's precision playing and unfailing melodic logic made for a tighter ensemble ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Oscar Peterson Trio

Release Date April 20, 1993
A great recording. I own the LP. Something happened in remastering to CD, as I don't recall a strange sound on the LP that I hear on the Cd.