1945

Charlie Parker Chronology

 

 

 

 

Created by Leif Bo Petersen

Last updated: May 22, 2023.

 

Date

 

Event

 

References/Further Details

 

January early

Cootie Williams and His Orchestra

Probably: Harold Johnson, Emmett Perry, George Treadwell, Cootie Williams (tp); Eddie Bert, Bob Horton (tb); Eddie Vinson (as, voc) replaced by Charlie Parker; Frank Powell (as); Lee Pope, Sam Taylor (ts); Eddie DeVerteuil (bars); Arnold Jarvis (p; Leroy Kirkland (g); Carl Pruitt (b); Ves Payne (d).

Savoy Ballroom, New York, NY.

Charlie Parker subs for Eddie Vinson here and later on.

 

T. Reig and E. Berger, Reminiscing in Tempo (1990), 13: Teddy Reig relates that Parker had subbed in Williams´ band the night before the Continental recording session on January 4.

 

 

January early

Clyde Bernhardt and His Kansas City Buddies

Clyde Bernhardt (tb, voc); Charlie Parker (as); Jay McShann (p): Gene Ramey (b); Gus Johnson (d).

Nola Studios, 1657 Broadway, New York, NY.

Private publicity recordings for Clyde Bernhardt.

Glass based lacquers exist.

                       

C. E. B. Bernhardt and S. Harris, I Remember (1986), 297-98: Here Clyde Bernhardt tells in detail about the session, but he gives no date. His account suggests a date before McShann opened at the Downbeat Club.

Phil Schaap, WKCR: Clyde Bernhardt has suggested the date January 9 to Schaap."

Swing Street Back to Name-Ork Policy," Billboard, December 30, 1944, 1: Jay McShann Orchestra opened at the Downbeat Club on January 8.

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450109

 

January 4

Clyde Hart's All-Stars

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Trummy Young (tb, voc); Charlie Parker (as); Don Byas (ts); Clyde Hart (p); Mike Bryan (g); Al Hall (b); Specs Powell (d); Rubberlegs Williams (voc).

Teddy Reig (prod).

Unidentified recording studio, New York, NY.

Commercial recordings for Continental Records.

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450104

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdInterviews.aspx

Charlie Parker interviewed by M. Sterns and J. Maher, May 1,

1950: he tells the story of Benzedrine in Rubberlegs Williams coffee at this session.

T. Reig and E. Berger, Reminiscing in Tempo (1990), 13: Teddy Reig states that he produced this session, and he also tells the Rubberlegs Williams anecdote.

 

 

January 7

Jam Session

Herbie Fields, Buster Bailey, Buck Clayton, Harold Doc West, Charlie Parker, Al Hall, Charlie Shavers, Thelonious Monk, Joe Albany, and Baby Lawrence.

Lincoln Square Center, New York, NY.

4 p.m.–2 a.m.

Monte Kay and Mal Braveman (prod).

Jam session and dance.

 

Ad in Daily News, January 7, 1945, 64.

“Names Carry on with Big Jam Session In New York,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 13, 1945, 13: Last Sunday; personnel listed.

January 14

Jam Session

Buck Clayton (tp); Ken Kersey (p); Hayes Alvis (b); James Crawford (d).

Also Participating: Don Byas (ts); Charlie Parker (as);  Errol Garner (p).

Spotlite Club, New York, NY.

4 hours. Afternoon.

Monte Kay and Mal Braveman (prod).

 

“All-Soldier Quartet Featured at Spotlite Club’s Jams Session,” New York Age, January 20, 1945, 10,

February 2

Cootie Williams and His Orchestra

Harold Johnson, Emmett Perry, George Treadwell, Cootie Williams (tp); Eddie Bert, Bob Horton (tb); Charlie Parker, Frank Powell (as); Lee Pope, Sam Taylor (ts); Eddie DeVerteuil (bars); Arnold Jarvis (p); Leroy Kirkland (g); Carl Pruitt (b); Ves Payne (d); Tony Warren (voc).

Savoy Sultans

Savoy Ballroom, New York, NY.

February 2-15, 1945.

Parker has replaced Eddie Vinson, who is drafted.

 

February 6, 1 a.m. (February 5 after midnight).

Broadcast by Mutual Network (MBS). In the New York area: WOR.

February 10, 1 a.m. (February 9 after midnight).

Broadcast by Mutual Network (MBS). In the New York area: WOR.

February 13, 1 a.m. (February 12 after midnight).

Broadcast by Mutual Network (MBS). In the New York area: WOR.

Surviving recordings from February 13 exist.

 

Ad in New York Amsterdam News February 3, 1945, 5: Cootie Williams and Savoy Sultans play nightly.

“Warren Evans Joins Cootie,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 17, 1945, 15:  Warren Evans appeared with Williams last Friday at the Savoy (February 9).

“Cootie Williams Nation’s No. 1 Trumpet Man,” Afro-American, February 17, 1945, 8: Closing February 15. Broadcasts on February 5, 9 and 12 are mentioned. It is also mentioned that Vinson had been taken into the army.

“Today’s Radio Programs,” Courier-Post (Camden, NJ.), February 5, 1945, 13: 1 a.m. WOR: Cootie Williams

“Today’s Radio Programs,” Courier-Post (Camden, NJ.), February 9, 1945, 33: 1 a.m. WOR: Cootie Williams.

“Today’s Radio Programs,” Courier-Post (Camden, NJ.), February 12, 1945, 13: 1 a.m. WOR: Cootie Williams.

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450212

 

 

February 28

Dizzy Gillespie Sextet

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Clyde Hart (p); Remo Palmieri (g); Slam Stewart (b); Cozy Cole (d).

Unidentified recording studio, New York, NY.

Commercial recordings for Guild Records.

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450228

 

March 21

Ben Webster Sextet

Charlie Parker (as); Ben Webster (ts); Argonne Thornton (a.k.a. Sadik Hakim) (p); Bill DeArango (g); Leo Guarneri (b); Bill Beason (d).

Toy Wilson (intermission piano)

March 21– early April 1945.

Onyx Club, New York, NY.

 

“Goings on About Town: Onyx,” New Yorker, March 24, 1945: A new band headed by Ben Webster. Same March 31.

“New York Roundup: The Street,” Metronome, April 1945, 23: Gives the lineup of Webster’s band as of March 21.

“Goings on About Town: Onyx,” New Yorker, April 7, 1945, 4: Stuff Smith and Ben Webster working in cooperation.

Sadik Hakim (a.k.a. Argonne Thornton): "Reflections of an Era - My Experiences with Bird and Prez" Jazz Journal, August 1996, 17: Tells that Parker was in the band.

Ben Webster in F. Büchmann-Møller, Someone to Watch Over Me (2006), 116: Webster tells that Parker was in his band just before he started with Gillespie at the 3 Deuces.

F. R. Hayde, Stan Levey - Jazz Heavyweight (2016), Kindle ed. loc. 843–849: Stan Levey claims that he and Charlie Parker were hired by Webster and that they were fired on the second night.

  

March 25

Jam Session

Ben Webster; Cozy Cole; Tiny Grimes; Erroll Garner; Don Byas.

Dizzy Gillespie's All Stars

Lincoln Square Center. NYC.

Palm Sunday Dance and Jam session

3 p.m–1 a.m.

 

Ad in New York Amsterdam News, March 24, 19

Ad in Daily News, March 25, 1945, 67.

This jam session probably included Charlie Parker and Harold Doc West.

The jam session fragment of Sweet Georgia Brown, which habitually is dated May 30, may come from this event.

April 19

Dizzy Gillespie and His Band Featuring Charlie Parker

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Curley Russell (b); Stan Levey, replaced by Doc West, replaced by Max Roach (d).

Don Byas

(ts) acc. by

Erroll Garner Trio

Erroll Garner (p); Al Lucas (b); Doc West (d).

Three Deuces, New York, NY.

April 19–July 4?, 1945.

“Dizzy Gillespie's Band to Open at Three Deuces,” New York Age, April 21, 1945, 11: opening Thursday, April 19. 

“Goings on About Town: Three Deuces,” New Yorker, April 28 until July 7, 1945: Dizzy Gillespie band. Don Byas band including Erroll Garner.

Ad in New York Amsterdam News, May 5, 1945, 7B: Three Deuces: Dizzy Gillespie and His Band featuring Charlie Parker; Erroll Garner, Don Byas, Doc West, and Al Lucas.

“New York Paragraphs,” Baltimore Afro-American, July 21, 1945, 17: Budd Johnson has replaced Dizzy Gillespie at the Three Deuces.

I. Gitler, Jazz Masters of the 40s (1966), 187: Max Roach tells that he replaced Stan Levey in the band.

Al Haig in I. Gitler, Swing to Bop (1985), 144: Haig was chosen as piano player from the start of the group.

According to P. Schaap (Bird Flight WKCR) Ted Sturgis has told that he was the bassist in the group for a short while from the start. I have not found other evidence of this.

F. R. Hayde, Stan Levey - Jazz Heavyweight (2016), Kindle ed. loc. 877–882, 937–944: Stan Levey tells that he participated in rehearsals at the Three Deuces before the opening. He quit the job because he got an opportunity to join Woody Herman. Max Roach replaced him. This probably happened in May. Doc West seems to have subbed in the band until Max Roach was available.

 

May

Dizzy Gillespie 

Release of Guild 1001.

10" 78 rpm. record.

Charlie Parker only appears on 1001 A.

 

Recorded February 28, 1945.

Dizzy Gillespie and Cozy Cole-Slam Stewart-Remo Palmieri-Clyde Hart- Charlie Parker

Groovin' High

Recorded February 9, 1945. 

Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra

Blue 'N Boogie

 

“Record Reviews” Metronome, June 1945, 14: Blue ‘N’ Boogie:  (good); Groovin’ High: (B /good). Parker is called the Diz of the alto.

“Diggin’ the Discs with Don: Swing,” Down Beat, June 15, 1945, 8: “Neither side exhibit Dizzy’s horn or style to the best advantage…” Generally, a review with reservations.

May 11

Dizzy Gillespie and His All-Stars

Dizzy Gillespie (tp, voc); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Curley Russell (b); Big Sid Catlett (d); Sarah Vaughan (voc).

Unidentified recording studio, New York, NY.

Commercial recordings for Guild Records.

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450511

 

May 16

Concert

Dizzy Gillespie with His Orchestra Featuring Charlie Parker

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Curley Russell (b); Doc West (d).

Dinah Washington

(voc) accompanied by Leonard Feather.

Stuff Smith Trio

Stuff smith (v); Jimmy Jones (p); Slam Stewart (b).

Town Hall, New York, NY.

 8:30 p.m.

New Jazz Foundation

Monte Kay and Symphony Sid Torin (prod).

Announced in the ads, but not appearing: Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Slam Stewart, Georgie Auld, Cozy Cole, Hot Lips Page, and Skippy Williams.

 

Ad in New York Amsterdam News, April 28, 1945, 8B.

Ad in Daily News, May 15, 1945, 29B.

“Gillespie Bash Drags as Cats Fail to Show,” Down Beat, June 1, 1945, 1.

 B. Ulanov, "Dizzy Dazzles for an Hour: Rest of Concert Drags," Metronome, October 1945. Reprinted in W. Woideck, The Charlie Parker Companion (1998), 181–83: Review of the concert. 

The planned program can be found in Leonard Feather's scrapbook, Leonard Feather Collection, University of Idaho:

https://www.ijc.uidaho.edu/feather_leonard

 

 

May mid

Hepsations of 1945

Press releases of plans for a tour with a Dizzy Gillespie18-piece big band, June Eckstine, Patterson & Jackson, and Nicholas Bros.

 

“’Hep-sation’ Unit to Play Series of One Night Stands,” Cleveland Gazette, May 20, 1945, 7.

May 25

Sarah Vaughan and Her Orchestra

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Flip Philips (ts); Nat Jaffe (p); Tadd Dameron (p & arr); Bill DeArango (g); Curley Russell (b); Max Roach (d); Sarah Vaughan (voc).

Unidentified studio, New York; NY.

Commercial recordings for Continental.

Leonard Feather (prod).

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450525

 

May 30

Jam Session

Dizzy Gillespie

Ben Webster,

Erroll Garner

Don  Byas

Slam Stewart,  Mary Lou Williams, and members of Count Basie Band’s guests – plus Big Sid Catlett and All Star band.

Lincoln Square Center. NYC.

May 30, 1945.

Memorial Day Benefit Jam Session and Dance.

Charlie LaSister and Jimmy Butts (prod).

Part of proceed to Salvation Army Servicemen’s Center.

 

Ad in New York Amsterdam News, May 26, 1945, 7B.

A recorded jam session fragment of Sweet Georgia Brown is habitually considered as coming from this event. It has Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Don Byas, and Harold Doc West participating.

http://www.plosin.com/MilesAhead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450530

According to Phil Schaap (WKCR), he copied this from  recordings coming from Bob Redcross’ collection, dubs of recordings coming from by Freddie James.  It has therefore  been thought to come from a California jam session together with another other jam session fragment (Lover Come Back to Me), which was copied at the same occasion. If this is true, the tenor sax player would have been Lucky Thompson, but comparing the tenor solos with Don Byas solos (for instance on Sweet Georgia Brown Copenhagen, September 9, 1946) it is obvious that it is Don Byas who is the tenor sax soloist here.

When Schaap played the fragment for Monte Kay, he told Schaap that it comes from one of his Lincoln Square Center jam sessions. As the present jam session is not produced by Monte Kay and do not seem to have had Charlie Parker and Doc West on the bill, I find it more  plausible that it comes from another occasion, maybe the Lincoln Square Center jam session on March 25.

 

June 5

Concert

Dizzy Gillespie and His Quintet Featuring Charlie Parker

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Curley Russell (b); Max Roach d).

Slam Stewart

Big Sid Catlett

Trummy Young

Don Byas

Buddy DeFranco

Sarah Vaughan

Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra

Incl. Red Rodney (tp) and Gerry Mulligan (ts).

Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA.

8:30 p.m.

All Star Jazz Concert

Bob Horn (mc).

Private lacquer (acetate) recordings exist.

 

Ad in Philadelphia Tribune, June 2, 1945, 14.

“Academy Program Proves Jazz Is Here to Stay,” Philadelphia Tribune, June 9, 1945, 14: Review: Mentions Al Haig, Curley Russell, and Max Roach as participants.

Benny Golson in B. Golson and J. Merod, Whisper Not (2016) Kindle ed., location 385–501: Benny Golson and John Coltrane attended the concert, and Golson tells in detail about the deep impression that Parker and Gillespie made on them.

Gerry Mulligan in S. Josephson, Jeru's Journey (2015), Kindle ed. loc. 174.

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450605

 

 

June 5

Jam Session

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Don Byas (ts) Red Garland (p); Nelson Boyd (b); Philly Joe Jones (d), and others including Gerry Mulligan.

Downbeat Club. Philadelphia, PA.

After the concert.

 

Benny Golson in B. Golson and J. Merod, Whisper Not (2016) Kindle ed., location 476: Benny Golson and John Coltrane heard this performance from the sidewalk as they were too young to enter the club.

Gerry Mulligan in S. Josephson, Jeru's Journey (2015), Kindle ed. loc. 174–179: The 17-years old Gerry Mulligan participates in the jam on Charlie Parker's request.

 

June 6

Red Norvo and His Selected Sextet

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Flip Philips (ts); Red Norvo (vib); Teddy Wilson (p); Slam Stewart (b); Specs Powell, J.C. Heard (d).

WOR Studio, New York, NY.

Commercial recordings for Comet Records.

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450606

 

June 22

Concert

Coleman Hawkins

Dizzy Gillespie Quintet

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig p); Curly Russell (b); Max Roach (dr).

Slam Stewart

Pearl Bailey

Buck Clayton

Big Sid Catlett

Don Byas

Erroll Garner Trio

Erroll Garner (p); Al Hall (b); Doc West (d).

Town Hall, New York, NY.

8:15 p.m.

New Jazz Foundation.

Symphony Sid (mc).

Recordings exist.

 

Ad in New York Amsterdam News, June 14, 7B.

“Jazz Foundation Concert,” New York Times, June 23, 1945, 10: Review.

“Jazz Stars Absence Drag Gillespie Bash,” Down Beat, July 15, 1945, 1.

Coleman Hawkins and Slam Stewart did not appear.

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450622

 

June late/

July early

Hepsations of 1945

Dizzy Gillespie (tp, dir, arr); Henry Boozier, Kenny Dorham, Elmon Wright, Ed Lewis (tp); Al King, Ted Kelly (tb); Leo Williams, John Walker (as); Charlie Rouse, Warren Lucky (ts); Eddie DeVerteuil (bar); Howard Anderson (p); Lloyd Buchanan (b); Max Roach (d); Gil Fuller (arr).

Auditions and rehearsals at Minton’s and Nola's Studios, New York, NY. The tour started in Bluefield, WV, on July 8.

Charlie Parker was not a part of this project, but he may have participated in some rehearsals.

 

Kenny Dorham in A. Taylor, Notes and Tones (1993), 232:  Kenny Dorham and his trumpet-playing friend, Henry Boozier, were recruited at an audition at Minton’s Playhouse. They stayed with Gillespie during the whole existence of the band.

Gil Fuller in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 223.

Charlie Rouse in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 225: Mentions Max Roach, Leo Parker, Leo Williams, Freddie Webster, and Benny Harris as members. Also, Charlie Parker for a short while.

Photo in L. Feather, Inside Jazz (1776), between pp. 74 and 75: There is a false identification of Harry Troy instead of Henry Boozier in the trumpet section.

 

July?

Trummy Young

Release of Continental C-6005.

10" 78 rpm. record.

 

Recorded January 4, 1945 

James "Trummie" Young’s All Stars

Continental C-6005-A

Seventh Avenue

Continental C-6005-B 

Sorta Kinda

 

 

“Record Reviews,” Metronome, August 1945, 17: Seventh Avenue: B (good): Sorta Kinda: B+ (very good).

July mid

Red Norvo

Release of Comet T 6 and T 7

12 " 78 rpm. records.

 

Recorded June 6, 1945.

Red Norvo and His Selected Sextet

Comet T 6-A

Hallelujah

Comet T 6-B

Slam Slam Blues

Comet T 7-A

Get Happy

Comet T 7-B

Congo Blues

 

Advance Record Releases,” Billboard, July 7, 1945, 29, 74.

“Diggin’ the Discs with Don: Swing,” Down Beat, October 15, 1945, 8: Comet T-8 [sic]:  Positive review with reservation for Hallelujah.

“Diggin’ the Discs: Swing,”  Comet T-7: Down Beat, October 01, 1945, 8: Very positive review.

“Record reviews,” Metronome, October 1945, 33: Comet T-7: Congo Blues: A- (excellent);  Get Happy: A- (excellent); very positive toward all participants.

“Broadway,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 8, 1945, 2D: Very Positive review “…prove that such modernists as Dizzy Gillespie, trumpet, and Charlie Parker, alto, can work together pleasingly with such less-frantics as Red Norvo, vibes, Teddy Wilson, piano, and Flip Philips, tenor…”

 

 

 

Summer?

All Star Concert

Including: Buck Clayton (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Ben Webster (ts); Erroll Garner (p); Oscar Pettiford (b).

St. Nicholas' Arena, New York, NY.

Walter Bishop Jr. in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 44–45: Tells of meeting and sitting in with Charlie Parker for the first time here.

Bishop dates this to around 1944, but it could hardly have been in 1944 because Webster was out of New York in the autumn of 1944.

 

July 26?

Charlie Parker and His Quintet

Charlie Parker (as); Don Byas (ts); Al Haig (p), Curley Russell (b), unidentified (d).

Erroll Garner Trio

Three Deuces, New York, NY.

Probably July 26–late August 1945.

“Goings on About Town: Three Deuces,” New Yorker, July 14, 1945, 4: Don Byas/Erroll Garner Band. Same until July 28.

“New York Paragraphs,” Baltimore Afro-American, July 21, 1945, 17: “Bud [sic] Johnson, saxophonist, and his band have replaced Dizzy Gillespie’s group at the Three Deuces.”

“Billy Rowe’s Note Book,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 28, 13: “Don Byas is being featured with Charlie Parker and his outfit, which has replaced Budd Johnson at the Three Deuces.”

“Apple Combats Hot Weather with Hot Jazz,”

, August 1, 1945, 2.

“Harlem Notes,” Chicago Defender (Nat. ed.), August 4, 1945, 14: Parker at the Three Deuces featuring Don Byas.

“Manhattan Kaleidoscope,” Metronome, August 1945, 10: Leonard Feather mentions Parker’s opening at the Three Deuces with Don Byas replacing Gillespie in the quintet.

K. Vail, Bird's Diary (1996), 13: Shows ad from unidentified newspaper: Opening tonight: Charlie Parker and his Quintet – Erroll Garner Trio.

 

August late?

Charlie Parker and His Quintet

Probably: Charlie Parker (as); Don Byas (ts); Al Haig (p), Curley Russell (b), unidentified (d).

Downbeat Club, Philadelphia, PA.

 

"Off the Cuff," Billboard, September 1, 1945, 29: “Charley Parker and his Three Deuces unit make their Philadelphia bow at the Downbeat...”

 

August 31

Hepsations of 45

Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra

Including Dizzy Gillespie (tp, arr, dir); Miles Davis, Freddie Webster, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, Benny Harris (tp); Ted Kelly (tb); Leo Williams, Charlie Parker (as), Charlie Rouse (ts); Leo Parker (bars); Max Roach (dr): Walter Gil Fuller (arr).

June Eckstine

Nicholas Brothers

Patterson & Jackson

Betty St. Claire

Joe Arena

Lovey Lane

McKinley Theatre, Bronx, New York, NY.

August 31-September 6, 1945

 

Ad in New York Age, September 1, 1945, 10.

“Clocking the Bronx,” New York Amsterdam News, September 1, 1945, 10A: Short review: Mention of Nicholas Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie 18-piece band, Patterson & Jackson, Betty St. Claire (voc), Joe Arena & Pal, and Sun Tan Chorus.

Ted Kelly in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 263: In the band at that time: Sarah Vaughan, Freddie Webster, Charlie Parker, Benny Harris. (This testimony is placed in connection with Dizzy’s second big band. But Kelly was in the Hepsations band, and not again in Dizzy’s band before late in 1947).

Max Roach D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 226: In the band: Freddie Webster, Kenny Dorham, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro.

Elmon Wright in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 263: Tells that he was in the first Gillespie band but left after the tour South.

Gil Fuller in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 256­–57: Mentions Freddie Webster, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Kenny Dorham at the McKinley engagement. Fuller tells that Gillespie threw Parker out of the band for being high. [This is wrongly placed in a 1947 connection].

Jackie McLean in A.B. Spellman, Four Lives in The Bebop Business (1966), 203–04: McLean attended the band at this engagement and mentions Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Leo Parker, Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, J. J. Johnson, Lucky Thompson, and Henry Pryor (as) as members. This lineup is not wholly trustworthy. I doubt the presence of Johnson and Thompson.

 

September

Dizzy Gillespie

Release of Guild 1002 and 1003.

10" 78 rpm. records.

 

Recorded May 11, 1945.

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker-Sidney Catlett-Al Haig-Curly Russell

Guild 1002 A

Lover Man 

Guild 1002 B 

Shaw 'Nuff

Guild 1003 A

Salt Peanuts

Guild 1003 B

Hot House

 

Record Reviews, Metronome, October 1945, 31:  Shaw ‘Nuff: A (Artistically extraordinary); Lover Man: B+ (very good); Salt Peanuts: A- (excellent); Hot House: A-  excellent);

“Diggin’ the Discs with Don: Swing,” Down Beat, December 15, 1945, 8: Guild 1002: "Dizzy’s and Charlie’ solos are excellent in many ways, but too acrobatic and sensationalistic to be expressive in the true sense of good swing" Generally, a review with many reservations, but positive concerning the Lover Man track.

“Record Reviews,” Billboard, December 22, 1945, 78: Guild 1002: Positive concerning Shaw ‘Nuff, lukewarm concerning Lover Man.

September

Tiny Grimes Quintette

including Charlie Parker

Release of Savoy 567 

10" 78 rpm. record.

 

Recorded September 15, 1944

Chas. Parker with Tiny Grimes Quintet

Red Cross

Tiny Grimes Quintet

I'll Always Love You Just the Same

 

“Record Reviews,” Metronome, October 1945, 21: Red Cross: B+ (very good); I’ll Always Love You: C+ (fair). Very positive towards Parker.

The release history of the recordings from the September 15, 1945, session is not very transparent.

Billboard (November 4, 1944, 17: Savoy - New records) has Savoy 532: Tiny Grimes Quintette, I’ll  Always Love You Just the Same-Red Cross. Other recordings are mentioned, but not Savoy 526, which is listed in standard discographies, containing Tiny's Tempo and I'll Always Love You Just the Same (the latter a mistake for Romance Without Finance considering the ad). The ad mentions production difficulties restricting the output of recordings. I suspect that the releases of Savoy 526 and 532 never were realized.

Another mystery is Savoy 541 (Red Cross -Tiny's Tempo), which figures in "Advance Record Releases," Billboard, May 18, 1946, 136. The series number indicates a release in 1945 earlier than Savoy 567.

 

Autumn?

Jam session

Charlie Parker, Don Byas, Earl Bostic, Hal Singer, and others.

Heatwave, New York, NY.

 

Hal Singer in I. Gitler, Swing to Bop (1985), 76: Dates 1944 or 1945 while he was working with Don Byas on 52nd Street. Probably 1945.

 

 

September?

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker starts living together with Doris Sydnor (Schneider) in her flat at 117th Street and Manhattan Avenue, New York, NY.

 

Argonne Thornton (a.k.a Sadik Hakim) in R. Reisner: Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1962), 102.

Doris Sydnor (Parker) in R. Reisner: Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1962), 170.

Sadik Hakim (a.k.a. Argonne Thornton): "Reflections of an Era - My Experiences with Bird and Prez" Jazz Journal, August 1996, 17: "I played the Ko Ko date with Bird as I was living with him at 117th Street and Manhattan Avenue, in Harlem, I was sent to the landlady Doris Schneider, because we were both from Chicago. I introduced Bird to Doris, and a week later he was living there. Later, for a while, they were married. Billie Holiday and her man, trumpeter Joe Guy, also lived in this six-room pad. Bird drew people like Thelonious Monk, Miles, and Dexter Gordon to the scene.”

Chan Parker (Richardson), My Life in E-Flat (1993). 23-2: I started a light romance with a piano player named Dense Thornton. He had a room in a large uptown apartment that belonged to Doris Green [sic]. I knew that Doris worked in one of the 52d Street clubs, but I didn't know she was torching for Bird…”

 

September 4

Sir Charles Thompson and His All Stars

Buck Clayton (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Dexter Gordon (ts): Sir Charles Thompson (p); Danny Barker (g); Jimmy Butts (b); J. C. Heard (d).

Unidentified recording studio, New York, NY.

Commercial recordings for Apollo Records.

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=450904

 

September 8

Jam session concert

Ben Webster

Dizzy Gillespie,

Don Byas

Errol Garner

Stuff Smith

Charlie Parker

Eddie Barefield

John Kirby and Band

Dexter Gordon and All Star Band

Members of Ellington and Eckstine bands.

Lincoln Square Center, New York, NY.

9 p.m.–3a.m.

Saturday Night Jam Sessions and Dance.

Charlie La Sister and Jimmy Butts (prod).

 

By Way of Mention,” New York Age, September 1, 1945, 5: Webster, Gillespie, Stuff Smith, Don Byas, Errol Garner, Dexter Gordon, Benny Harris, Paul Bascomb, Joe Steel, Ernie Washington, and band members of Ellington and Eckstine.

Ad in New York Amsterdam News, September 8. 1945. 9B.

Jackie McLean in A.B. Spellman, Four Lives in the Bebop Business, (1966), 202–03: gives details of this concert: Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, and other boppers are mentioned.

September mid

Art Tatum

Loumell Morgan Trio

Tiny Grimes and Ted McRae and Band

Charlie Parker and His Combo

Probably including Miles Davis. (only Mondays and Tuesdays)

Downbeat Club, New York, NY.

Parker’s band was fired on September 24.

“Where They Are Playing,” Jazz Record, October 1943, 13:  Tiny Grimes at Downbeat. Charlie Parker’s band is relief band at Downbeat Club, Monday and Tuesday.

“Sad Tale,” Down Beat, October 15, 8: The band was fired on September 24, experiencing that another band had was at the stage when they arrived.

“Goings on About Town: Downbeat Club,” New Yorker, September 16, 1945, 4: Art Tatum, Tiny Grimes, Loumell Morgan Trio, and another band for dancing. Same until October 27.

 

September 16

 

Jam session

Dizzy Gillespie

Don Byas

Charlie Parker

Al Killian

Morey Feld [sic]

Al Haig, Al Cohen, Leonard Gaskin, and Freddie Radcliffe.

Guests from the Dorsey and the Barnet bands.

Spotlite Club, New York, NY.

4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Mal Braveman and Milt Shaw present four solid hours of Mad Music.

 

S. DeVeaux, The Birth of Bebop (1997), xii: Reproduction of handbill.

September 22

Jam session

"Big Sid" Catlett

All Star Orchestra

Buck Clayton, Al Killian (tp); Trummy Young (tb); Tony Scott (Sciacca) (cl); Charlie Parker (as); Allen Eager, Dexter Gordon (ts); Tiny Grimes (g); Al Haig, Billy Taylor (p); Leonard Gaskin, Lloyd Trotman (b), J.C. Heard (dr.

Fraternal Clubhouse, NYC:

8 p.m. -2 a.m.

Monte Kay presents Symphony Sid's Swing Session and Dance

A weekly New Jazz Foundation Show.

 

K. Vail, Bird's Diary (1996), 14: Shows photo of handbill.

Symphony Sid in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1962), 218.

September 23

Concert

Best in American Jazz

Frankie Newton, Bill Coleman (tp); Buster Bailey (cl); Charlie Parker (as); Don Byas (ts); Al Haig, Teddy Wilson (p); Al Hall (b); Specs Powell, J. C. Heard, George Wettling (dr), Liza Morrow (voc).

Stuff Smith Trio

Stuff Smith (v); Pete Clover (b); Freddie Jefferson (p).

Coker and Comber (Afro-Haitian hand drummers)

Four Chicks and Chuck.

Harold Stein (16 years old tenor sax performer).

Town Hall, New York, NY.

8:30 p.m.

Bill Cullen, mc.

 

Ad in New York Times, September 24, 1945, X4.

“New Jazz Group Opens its Season," New York Times, September 24, 1945, 17: Review.

October ?

Sarah Vaughn

 

Release of Continental 60008.

10” 78rpm record.

 

Recorded May 25, 1945.

Sarah Vaughn

Including Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

 

Continental 60008-A

What More Can a Woman Do

 

Continental 60008-B

I’d Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream.

 

[1] “Record Reviews,” Metronome, November 1945, 29: I’d Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream: B (good); What More Can a Woman Do: B+ (very good).

October early?

Charlie Parker Sextet

Miles Davis (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Dexter Gordon (ts); Sir Charles Thompson (p); Leonard Gaskin (b); Stan Levey (d).

Buster Bailey Trio

Buster Bailey (cl); Hank Jones (p); William Smith (b).

Billy Daniels

(voc) acc. by Kenny Wyatt (p).

Spotlite Club, New York, NY.

October ?–November 4.

The Police close Spotlite on November 4.

 

“52nd Street Jumps as Top Jazz Names Return Home,” Down Beat November 1, 1945, 3: Parker opened last month. Gives the personnel.

Scott DeVeaux, The Birth of Bebop (1997): photo of band between pp. 280-281.

“4 Night Clubs Penalized,” New York Times, November 5, 1945, 21. “Narcotics Rap Closes 4 Spots; Not for Long,” Billboard, November 17, 1945, 31: “The Spotlight and Three Deuces are due to light up again tonight at midnight after seven-day suspension. All four stopped shows but kept their bars open.”

 

October

Dizzy Gillespie Combo

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Milt Jackson (vib); Bud Powell (p); Ray Brown (b); Max Roach (d).

Gillespie starts rehearsing a combo for a Californian engagement at Billy Berg’s.

 

Phil Schaap, Bird Flight, radio WKCR: Curly Russell opted out because it he did not want to leave New York. He was replaced by Ray Brown.

Ray Brown quoted in A. Shipton, Groovin’ High (1999), 150–51: Tells of his recruitment and rehearsals with Gillespie, Parker, Powell, and Roach.

Milt Jackson quoted in A. Shipton, Groovin’ High (1999), 152–53: Tells of his recruitment.

 

October 30

Jam session concert

Slam Stewart

Dizzy Gillespie

Coleman Hawkins

Errol Garner

Harry Carney

Charlie Parker

Tiny Grimes

Joe Marsala

and 10 other artists, including Don Byas, Ray Nance, Thelonious Monk, and Harold Doc West.

Free State Stores. Fifth Regiment Armory, Baltimore, MD.

8:30–??

Leonard Feather (mc).

 

Ad in Baltimore Afro-American, October 22, 1945, 22.

“5,000 Jive Fans at Jam Session.” Baltimore Afro-American, November 3, 1945, 24: Review.

November mid?

Broadcast Concert

Charlie Parker, Erroll Garner, Slam Stewart, Trummy Young, Harold doc West, and others.

Radio CKEY Studio, Toronto, Canada.

 

“52nd Street Invades Toronto,” Down Beat, December 15, 1945, 2.

 

November mid?

Concert

Charlie Parker, Erroll Garner, Slam Stewart, Trummy Young, Harold Doc West, and others

Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada.

 

“52nd Street Invades Toronto,” Down Beat, December 15, 1945, 2.

 

November 19

Charlie Parker

A contract between Charlie Parker and Savoy Records about 8 additional new recordings is signed November 19. This may be a postdated document made in 1947.

 

R. Russell, Bird Lives (1988), 248.

November 26

Charlie Parker's Reboppers

Miles Davis (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Dizzy Gillespie (tp, p); Argonne Thornton (a.k.a Sadik Hakim) (p), Curly Russell (b); Max Roach (d).

WOR Studios. New York, NY.

2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Commercial recordings for Savoy Records.

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=451126

Sadik Hakim (Argonne Thornton) in R. Reisner: Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 103-04.

  Sadik Hakim (Argonne Thornton), “Reflections of an Era - My Experiences with Bird and Prez," Jazz Journal, August 1996: “Bud Powell was supposed to be the pianist, but he was hung up in Pennsylvania and didn't get back...”

 

December 4

 

Dizzy Gillespie and his Rebop Six

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as): Milt Jackson (vib); Ray Brown (b); Stan Levey (d).

Gillespie’s wife, Lorraine, is participating in the tour.

Travel by train to California over Chicago.

 

Phil Schaap (Bird Flight, radio WKCR): Max Roach was arrested for drug abuse just before the group went for Hollywood, and Bud Powell had disappeared at the time of the departure. Instead, Gillespie fetches Stan Levey in Philadelphia, and contacts Al Haig during the train ride. Al Haig leaves Woody Herman to join the group at Berg's.

D. Maggin, Dizzy (2006), 181–82: gives departure date and description of the travel with its delaying problems. No sources are given. He states that the team was jamming on Chicago’s South Side, and that the train with reservations was missed. They had to take a slower train, which made the trip weeklong.

F. R. Hayde, Stan Levey - Jazz Heavyweight (2016), Kindle ed. loc. 1000–1014:

Stan Levey does not mention any jam session or missing of reservations. He speaks of a 10-hour layover in Chicago and states that the band arrived in Los Angeles a couple of days before the opening getting lodgings at the Downtown House. Levey quickly moved to the Drake Hotel where Al Haig was also living.

 

December 10

Dizzy Gillespie and His Rebop Six

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Milt Jackson (vib); Ray Brown (b); Stan Levey (d).

ABC Studio, Hollywood, CA.

Probably 6:30–7:30 p.m.

Recording of AFRS Jubilee Show.

Jimmy Lyons (prod) Ernie Whitman (mc).

 

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=451210

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=451217a

R. E. Lotz and U. Neuert, The AFRS “jubilee” Transcription Programs —An exploratory Discography (1985), Nos. 162, 163, and 165.

The Jubilee session on December 10 probably produced the Parker/Gillespie material used on the Jubilee shows nos. 162, 163, and 165. It seems not very probable that the band participated in two sessions to record 3 items.

 

December 10

Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Lucky Thompson (ts); Al Haig (p); Milt Jackson (vib); Ray Brown (b); Stan Levey (d).

Lucky Thompson was hired later in the engagement because of Parker's instability.

Slim Gaillard Trio

Including ‘Slim Gaillard (g); Bam Brown (b); Unidentified (d).

Harry "The Hipster" Gibson

(p, voc).

Billy Berg's Supper Club, Hollywood, LA.

December 10, 1945–February 3, 1946.

December 17:

Broadcast from unidentified station.

Slim Gaillard, Billy Berg (mc).

Recordings exist.

 

"Dizzy Gillespie Set for Billy Berg's 1st Hollywood Job," Billboard, November 24, 1945, 34:  opening December 10 for at least 8 weeks.

Dizzy Gillespie in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 242–43.

Stan Levey in D. Gillespie and A. Fraser, To Be or Not... to Bop (1979), 248.

“With the Lamplighter,” Los Angeles Daily News, February 8, 1946, 33: “Milton DeLugg opened Monday [February 4] at Billy Berg’s…”

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=451217b

G. Mulligan in G. Mulligan and K. Poston, Being Gerry Milligan (2023), 44–45: Mulligan met Parker in Hollywood while Mulligan weas working at the Palladium with Gene Krupa. Mulligan and Parker was smoking pot outside Berg’s and were busted. Parker was not arrested, as the reefer’s were found in Mulligan’s pocket, while the latter was put in jail.

 

 

 

 

December 17

Slim Gaillard and his Orchestra

Dizzy Gillespie (tp); Charlie Parker (as): Jack McVea (ts); Dodo Marmarosa (p); Slim Gaillard (g); Bam Brown (b); Zutty Singleton (d).

Electro-Vox Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Commercial recordings for Bel-Tone Records.

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdSessions.aspx?s=451217c

The conventional date given for this session is December 29, 1945.

However, listening to the patter on Slim’s Jam we hear Dizzy Gillespie saying that he must leave for a Jubilee session.

R. E. Lotz and U. Neuert, The AFRS “jubilee” Transcription Programs —An Exploratory Discography (1985), Nos. 162, 163, and 165.

The entire Gillespie band participated in a Jubilee session on December 10. Dizzy Gillespie participated in a Jubilee session on December 17 as a featured soloist in his own arrangement of A Night in Tunisia with the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra. This was the last Jubilee session this year. It is not very probable that the whole Gillespie band should have had a Jubilee session and Gillespie and Parker also had a Bel-tone session on December 10, which was the opening night at Billy Berg’s. As I have found no Gillespie performances in Jubilee in 1946, I suppose that the Bel-Tone session was on December 17.

 

December late

Charlie Parker

Vernon Avenue, Los Angeles, CA.

Charlie Parker moves in with Teddy Edwards and Gene Montgomery.

Around Christmas time.

Chan Parker (Richardson), My Life In E-Flat (1993), 24: Teddy Edwards, Gene Montgomery, and Charlie Parker were living together on Vernon Avenue, when she arrived at Los Angeles

Jazz Oral History project. IJS, Rutgers University:  Teddy Edwards interviewed by Patricia Willard (July 1980), transcription, 138.

https://ijsresearch.libraries.rutgers.edu/jazz-oral-history-project

“Teddy Edwards Interview” Cadence, April 1994, 10–11.