Complete Jazz at Massey Hall

Simply put, "Complete Jazz at Massey Hall" contains one of three essential Charlie Parker concerts now available on CD, the May 15, 1953 concert at Massey Hall.Only seven tracks here (the first four and the last three) feature Parker (with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Charles Mingus on bass, and Max Roach on drums); one track (#5) is a self-contained drum solo (by Roach), and six tracks (#6-#11) are trio pieces featuring the incomparable Bud P (with Mingus & Roach).The extraordinary trio pieces alone would make this CD worthwhile, but Bird & Diz are simply amazing on at least five of the seven quintet pieces (of the remaining two, "All the Things You Are" is a bit of a mess, and "52nd Street Theme" is less than 45 seconds long).This Massey Hall CD (a Spanish import from the Jazz Factory, which also produced the indispensible "Bud Powell: Complete 1947-1951 Blue Note, Verve & Roost Sessions") features sound quality which, while nowhere near perfect, is surprisingly clear, bright, and present, and actually superior to the sound on two other essential Parker concerts, the May 15/16, 1950 Birdland concert (with Parker, Powell, Fats Navarro, Curley Russell, and Art Blakey), and the Sept 29, 1947 Carnegie Hall concert (with CP, Gillespie, John Lewis, Al McKibbon, and Joe Harris).While the remastered sound of the 1947 Carnegie Hall concert is particularly appealing on the "Charlie Parker: The Complete Live Performances on Savoy" box set, the piano is very poorly miked, so much so you barely hear John Lewis at all. Which leaves a gap, a hole, in a song like "Confirmation," where you're listening through the inaudible piano solo, waiting for the real music making to return. Still, we have five quintet pieces from Carnegie that are among Parker's greatest live performances.The sound quality of the May 1950 Birdland concert on "Charlie Parker at Birdland, Vol. 1" is clearly the worst of the three concerts, but the music making is electric. Bud Powell is on fire at Birdland--his inventiveness is at least the equal of Parker's. Which is to say, it is among the most masterful, the most intricate, the most engaging in the history of jazz. Indeed, it is Powell's playing, in particular, that keeps me coming back again and again to the Birdland concert--or maybe it's the way in which Powell and Parker and Navarro seem to be feeding off one another; all three are on fire, all three are playing at the very peak of their powers, and so you begin to feel immersed in the brilliance of the invention as it surrounds you on all three sides, alto sax, trumpet, and piano.By contrast, the Massey and Carnegie concerts are principally about the soaring brilliance of two musicians: Bird and Diz, even though Powell himself is present at Massey Hall. Don't get me wrong, Bud P in 1953 (or 1950) is almost always brilliant, and his playing at Massey Hall is clearly exceptional, but it is in the trio pieces at Massey where Powell really shines.Some might argue that there is a fourth essential Parker concert on CD: the recently unearthed recording of the June 22, 1945 concert at Town Hall (with CP, Gillespie, Don Byas, Al Haig, Curley Russell, Max Roach & Sid Catlett). And while the playing at Town Hall is indeed brilliant (and while the recording itself has major historical significance), I don't think it's nearly as compelling, nor as essential, as the playing at Massey Hall in 1953, Carnegie Hall in 1947, or Birdland in 1950.All of which is to say, while there are numerous Parker concerts I enjoy listening to (such as the Royal Roost concerts in 1948 & 1949, the amazing pick-up concert in Chicago on October 23, 1950, as well as the seminal 1945 Town Hall concert), I don't think I could do without the concerts at Massey or Carnegie or Birdland.

The recent hype about the discovery of the Diz-Bird concert at Town Hall in 1945 led me to compare it with their other two "live" recordings: the Carnegie Hall concert of 1947 and the Massey Hall concert of 1953. Give the nod to the Massey Hall date. The audio, though admittedly problematic, still has more "presence" than the other two dates; the solos are both more extended and more inspired; the overall level of musicianship is inarguably of a higher order (Bud Powell clearly blows away both Al Haig and John Lewis, the pianists on the other two recordings).This edition is the closest you'll get to the original event--in terms of the programming as well as the original audio recording made by Mingus. Unlike the better-known Debut/OJC edition, this Spanish import dispenses with Mingus' later overdubbing of his bass part, has more "presence" in the treble frequencies (Roach's drum kit and the crowd ambiance are more noticeable along with slightly brighter horns), and contains 24 additional minutes of music. Any listener who first discovered Diz in the '60's (my situation) is likely to experience some eye-opening moments at hearing him on all three concert recordings with Bird. In his prime he clearly was at least the equal of Charlie Parker and very likely the greatest jazz trumpet player of all time.Footnote: It's of particular interest to listen carefully to Bird's 4-bar break on "Night in Tunisia" on all three recordings. The 1947 Carnegie Hall date is simply unreal--a microcosmic moment of pure genius. On the Town Hall date he's fast and flashy but not as linguistically rich and complex; on the Massey Hall date he eschews pyrotechnics in favor of majestic statement.

This is a must have for both long standing Jazz fans and for relative newcomers to the genre like myself. After a few listenings, the hype surrounding this disk which has been called one of the best concert records of all time is certainly justified.What I read about the gig, the drunken state of one player, the constant exits from the stage by another to check a game score, and of course Charlie Parker was...Charlie Parker. Brilliant, intense, deeply spiritual, and usually loaded to the max, all of which makes the level of performance all the more astonishing.The remaster brings not only the missing tracks from the original lp, but it allows me for the first time to really appreciate Max Roach's contribution to the gig. He is brilliant, dead solid, and his use of brushes to produce a deep and powerful sound on snare and cymbals literally blows me away. This cd will be on my high rotation list for a long time to come.I have a question for others who own the cd. I have a skip on Track 13. Is this a defect on my copy or is it present on your CDs as well?

I worried about this being an inexpensive import, compared to the alternatives of this concert. No worry, it is 24 bit remastered and sounds more contemporary (recording) than 60 years old. The fidelity is great for a 1953 analog recording. A little shy of modern standards, but still great. The performers are to die for...Bird, Diz, Mingus, Max Roach and Bud Powell while his health was still keeping him at the top of his game. This is the complete 15 tracks of this event, unlike some other CDs. I like the sound, the price and love the playing. If you like/are interested in what "cutting edge" jazz sounded like as it evolved in the early '50s, you need this disc. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

If you love jazz!? This is a must have!

The title of this CD is a misnomer. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie play on less than half the songs. So "The Mingus Powell Roach Trio, featuring Dizzy and Bird" is a great CD-it's just not what I expected.

I've had this album for many years despite only reviewing it now (been busy). For those who are over bothered by the quality of recording this CD is not for you. This concert was not recorded professionally but by Charles Mingus and Max Roach themselves. The cosequence is that the balance is pretty awful. There is virtually no bass to be heard (Mingus did make an overdubbed version, but this is the original) and the drums are quite dominant and except for the trio recordings the piano is rather lost too. Yet I award this CD five stars!The presence of five "gods" of bebop on stage together is a unique occasion in jazz history. The circumstances of the concert session in Totonto is described in some detail in the accompanying booklet: the fact that Parker and Gillespie hadn't spoken for several years; the fact that Parker had to hire a plastic alto; the fact that Bud Poell was released from a mental institution under supervision; the fact that Powell and Parker were drunk as newts; that Dizzy Gillespie kept leaving the stage to find the result of a boxing match. Yet this concert occurred. Half a dozen of the tracks are the quintet, one a drum feature, the others by the Bud Powell trio (with CM and MR).Forget the sound quality and listen to the music. Despite the impediments these guys are on top form and play together as if they had actually rehearsed...they hadn't, of course!

If you are a fan of Jazz and don't have this in your collection, then you are not a fan of Jazz and don't no nothing about Jazz.

This was the only time that five of the pioneers of be-bop played together, so the CD is an invaluable record of a unique and important occasion. Although the first half of the gig sounds what it is (an unrehearsed improvised set, with all the rawness that implies), by the second half they have settled into a groove where their playing is seemless and totally at one with each other. Musically, that is the more satisfying set, but it is all worth hearing. The highlight for me is the concluding number 'A Night in Tunisia', which has got to be a definitive take on Gillespie's classic. Those who recorded and then issued this record of a very special occasion deserve our thanks and gratitude.

this is the best version currently available of this classic concert not only do you get the best sound (24 bit mastered) but you get all tracks recorded that night,in order they were performed and in addition the cd has been mastered with charlie mingus bass overdubs left out (he overdubbed his bass later in the studio making for a less vibrant sound)this makes the sound more natural (to my ears at least)the best bebop live recording just got even better BUY IT NOW!

Finally we have ALL the music from this incredible night. Even if you've got one of the many releases of The Quintet that have been released over they years, this release is well worth the money,