Happy Birthday Charlie Parker
 

Today is Charlie Parker's 98th birthday. Okay, he only lived to 34, but it's worth remembering this great American original.

The story of Parker's last day on earth is part of jazz legend. On the evening of March 12, 1955, on a rainy night in New York, he knocked on the door of his dear friend and supporter, the Baroness de Koeningswater, telling her he felt ill. She saw how bad he looked, and said she would make him some tea and call a doctor. She emerged from the kitchen five minutes later with a pot of tea to find him dead on her couch.

He was a great genius and soaring talent who changed the face of modern music, but frittered away his life searching for dope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJYO6_t4d08

.

Nice card Peter...either it's out of focus or I need new glasses.

There is some print around the letters and elsewhere hat gives it that appearance, it looks better in hand. As this is the only one I have ever seen outside of David Halpen's website, it will have to do. 1958 Swedish Jazzbilder. No cards of him while he was alive as far as I know.

I didn't know there was any jazz fans on here - I marked Bird's B'day by playing a bunch of his 1940's sides with Dizzy Gillespie.

Barry, who else is in that Swedish set? I don't think I've ever seen those

Gary,
If you're referring to the youtube clip I included, that's Dick Hyman on piano, Sandy Block on bass, and Charlie Smith on drums. While Hyman was quite famous, the latter two were less so and may have played with Parker and Gillespie for that TV appearance only. And it's Earl Wilson giving them their Downbeat awards.

There are very few known film clips of Parker playing live. This one was discovered in the 1970's, and there is another one of Parker but without sound. And maybe one more. Footage of him is rare indeed.

Come to think of it, you meant to ask Peter about the Swedish set of cards? Not sure.

Sorry about that, I meant the card.

I've seen that clip before, and I sure wish there were more out there, but it's the music that matters anyway. Parker's solo is really nice in that clip, and Dizzy is, well, as polished and on-spot as he always was.

Charlie was a little past his prime in 1951 and his health was starting to deteriorate, but he still could blow that horn.

Gary I have both Billie Holiday cards from the set, which to my knowledge are her only real cards. I can't remember if Louis is in it, I don't have that one if he is. The cards I have tend to scan a bit fuzzy but in hand they look ok.

I don't have any Charlie Parker cards but I blow his horn (or one like it). And actually played Parker music on his birthday. Just ask my neighbors.

Do you play Klactoveesedstein Frank? And if you don't play it, can you even pronounce it?

Peter- thanks for posting those Billie Holiday cards. I'm sure you are right that they are the only ones released while she was alive. Do you happen to have a checklist of the rest of the set? As a jazz fan, I got to say those are really neat.

Trade a James Moody and a Gerry Mulligan for a Chet Baker Metronome All-Star card and a Sonny Rollins rookie...

That’s my nickname Barry.

Oops, wrong thread.:eek:

One of my favorite Bird songs to start the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wa7El-k3jQ

Would have been great if there were a Exhibit.


@Gary - Yes, many of us - anyway, a few handfuls - of cloistered jazz fans here. We hardly ever make an appearance in the "Been To Any Concerts Lately" thread. I try to get into NYC when I can to the jazz clubs...maybe those smaller venues aren't considered a "concert". I dunno.

BTW - I got a "thing" for Sonny Fortune, another alto sax player (alto flute too). First time I got to see him live was in mid Seventies San Francisco, at the long since defunct Keystone Korner.

I have the Sonny Fortune album "Awakening." Haven't played it in a long time, maybe I should give it a listen.

Gary I found this, pics of the entire set!

https://imageevent.com/halpen/1958swedenjazzbilderset

I am almost positive there are no cards of Coltrane either. Basie and Miller have 40s mutoscopes and of course Louis has tons of cards and Ella has quite a few.

I'm surprised that no one here has mentioned of the famous New York City Jazz scene which was named after Charlie.....BIRDLAND.

Birdland was established in 1949, Charlie Parker was the headliner, and the club owners named it after him. Birdland was located on
Broadway, just west of 52nd Street. This part of the City was a hot-spot of Jazz in the 1930's to the mid-1960's.

I graduated HS in 1957, my Jazz-loving buddies and I would drive to Birdland almost every month. Admission was $5, a hard-liquor
drink was only $1.50.

Listed here are some of the Jazz greats which we saw (and heard) at Birdland.

Duke Ellington
Ella Fitzgerald
George Shearing
Dizzy Gillespie
Gene Krupa
Paul Desmond
Gerry Mulligan
Count Basie
Lionel Hampton
Dave Brubeck Quartet
Vince Guaraldi Trio
etc.


The 1950's and 1960s were a great time to be a "Jersey guy" with a car, living less than an hour away from New York City.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

More jazz cards.

Peter, what's the story with the Vaughan and Peggy cards? Issue, year of, etc.

And...gotta love a Ellington that looks like a T206:cool:

1959 NuCard. Very easy to find.

The Jazz artist that I would have liked to see perform is Ahmad Jamal. I don't think he ever performed at Birdland. Ahmad Jamal was a Jazz contemporary of Charlie Parker.
Like Dave Brubeck, Jamal introduced an exciting new style to Jazz in the 1950's. And, like Brubeck, Jamal has enjoyed a long life (he recently celebrated his 88th Birthday).

His rendering of “Poinciana” ranks up there with Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", as one of the all-time best of Jazz.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

That Ellington card is really neat, I'll have to try and pick one up.

Here's a set of cards I did for myself about 20 years ago. I had done a series of five portraits of my favorite jazz musicians to hang over my record player. They seemed to lend themselves to a 1934-36 Diamond Stars style.

Attachment 327720

I just picked up one of those Mitchell's Cigarettes Duke Ellington cards - it's a pretty neat little card that can be had at a reasonalble price (I paid $14)