| Charlie Parker with Strings | ||||
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| Compilation album by Charlie Parker | ||||
| Released | January 24, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1947-1952 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 76:18 | |||
| Label | Verve | |||
| Producer | Norman Granz | |||
| Charlie Parker chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic | link |
Charlie Parker with Strings is a compilation album by jazz musician Charlie Parker, released by Verve Records in January 1995. It is based on recording sessions originally issued as two albums released in 1950 on Mercury Records. The sessions place Parker in the context of a small classical string section and a jazz rhythm section, rather than his standard bebop quintet. They were Parker's most popular sellers during his lifetime, and were admitted to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988.
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Under the auspices of producer Norman Granz, Parker fulfilled a long-held desire to record in a string setting. Plans were made to release the results of the sessions as a ten-inch LP. Sessions from November 30, 1949, yielded the first Charlie Parker With Strings album (Mercury MG-35010), consisting of six songs total, all of which were standards.
The success of the first album led to additional sessions on July 5, 1950, resulting in another long-playing album also entitled Charlie Parker With Strings (Mercury MGC-109), consisting of eight tracks, also all standards.
In 1995, Verve Records reissued these fourteen recordings for compact disc, including an additional ten tracks with Parker also accompanied by strings. Five date from a Carnegie Hall concert on September 17, 1950; four more from an additional studio session in January 1952, and the last from Granz's The Jazz Scene limited edition 78 rpms recorded in Carnegie Hall in December 1947 with Neal Hefti.
There is some controversy regarding the impetus for Parker to record standards, rather than his original compositions, in these kind of settings as a bid for greater commercial exposure. Certainly Mercury Records did not object to this idea, although biographical sources indicate Parker himself instigated the sessions. However, they were instrumental in creating a vogue among jazz musicians for recording in a similar fashion: see Clifford Brown with Strings in 1955, Lady in Satin by Billie Holiday in 1958, and Focus by Stan Getz in 1961, among others.
Released as Mercury MG-35010
Released as Mercury MGC-109
Along with above released as Charlie Parker with Strings: The Master Takes, Verve 314 523 984-2