Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker With Strings

Here's the 65th anniversary edition of Charlie Parker With Strings, the iconic saxophonist’s all-time best-selling album. The reissue includes all the recordings from the original Charlie Parker With Strings as well material from the follow-up, Charlie Parker With Strings Vol. 2, plus alternate takes and additional tracks.

Parker worked with famed producer Norman Granz to record the songs on Charlie Parker With Strings, released by Mercury Records in 1950. A second volume was released later the same year. In 1949 and ’50, Parker made 14 recordings with a classical string section—featuring violins, viola, cello and harp—and a jazz rhythm section. Other instrumentation included oboe and French horn.

In 1988, the original Charlie Parker With Strings recordings were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1995, Verve reissued the recordings as a single-CD compilation.

The 65th anniversary edition features newly discovered alternate takes. The two-CD set includes 18 previously unreleased performances. The tracks are presented in their original sequence for the first time since their original release.

Among the stellar personnel heard on the 65th anniversary edition are drummers Buddy Rich and Roy Haynes, bassist Ray Brown and pianist Al Haig.

The album’s liner notes include new essays. One is a personal tribute by saxophonist David Sanborn, and another is a detailed analysis of Parker’s work by Phil Schaap, the world-renowned Parker historian and host of the long-running radio show Bird Flight on WKCR-FM in New York.

Parker (1920–’55) was voted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1955.