Charlie Parker - Masterworks 1946-1947 (1996)

Masterworks: 1946-1947 is both an appropriate and ill chosen term for the 23 Charlie Parker performances packed into this 1998 Giants of Jazz compilation. Everything on this disc was recorded for Ross Russell's Dial label in Hollywood and New York between March 28, 1946 and December 17, 1947. Most of Bird's breathtaking ballads and mind-blowing originals really were masterfully rendered, whereas three titles from July 29, 1946 were recorded during a toxic meltdown that sent Bird -- initially handcuffed and strait-jacketed -- into a cell in the Los Angeles County Jail followed by six weeks of involuntary rehab at Camarillo State Mental Hospital. Parker's mastery really did enable him to make it through the tragic take of "Lover Man" with some measure of dignity. On "The Gypsy" and "Bebop," however, Bird simply sounds poisoned and uncoordinated. Masterworks really is a peculiarly inappropriate heading for these two recordings. The other 21 -- including "Lover Man" -- are worthy of that much-abused term, which has long been suspect and in danger of being rendered meaningless through careless application. To summarize: this is a chronologically jumbled Charlie Parker Dial sampler and it's good. For maximum enjoyment and fulfillment, obtain his complete Dial recordings and study them carefully in sequence, session by session.