Charlie Parker – The RIse and Fall of Charlie Parker [2CD Set] (2007)

BeBop pioneer Charlie Parker is represented here by the finest music from his peak between 1945 and 1951, when he played the leading role in the creation of modern jazz.

On Primo's double-disc compilation released in 2007, The Rise and Fall of Charlie Parker is depicted using 40 definitive bop recordings made in New York, Hollywood, and Detroit between November 1945 and March 1951, a segment of time that begins five years into and ends about three years short of the end of Bird's adventurous recording career. For this project the folks at Primo raided the Savoy, Dial, and Verve catalogs, stacking the selections in almost but not quite chronological order and tossing in a handful of live broadcasts from the Royal Roost at 47th and Broadway in New York City. The supporting cast includes trumpeters Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Howard McGhee, trombonist J.J. Johnson, saxophonists Lucky Thompson and Wardell Gray, pianists Dodo Marmarosa, Erroll Garner, Bud Powell, Duke Jordan, Al Haig, John Lewis, and Walter Bishop, Jr., and drummers Max Roach and Roy Haynes. Even if dozens of existing Charlie Parker collections cover similar ground, the titles are well chosen, the music is uniformly excellent, and the spirit of Charlie Parker is inextinguishable.