Search - Charlie Parker :: Strike Up the Band

Charlie Parker with Rolf Ericson

J. A. Stewart | NH, USA | 08/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD once again makes available the concerts of Bird playing in Sweden in 1950. Most of what is on this release was originally issued on the now out-of-print Storyville release, "Charlie Parker in Sweden." The tracks not on that original release are alternate takes of "Anthropology," and "Cool Blues."
Bird, as usual, plays some great solos over Rhythm changes (Anthropology, Cheers) and a few standards. The other horn in the line up is Swedish trumpeter, Rolf Ericson. He sounds like a clone of Fats Navarro, and this isn't a bad thing. At least on this recording, he shows that he had roughly the same technical ability as Navarro, although his melodic ideas may not quite be on the same level.
The one thing about this CD that may put off a lot of potential buyers is the sound quality. Hard core fans of Parker's music are probably already aware of the wide range of sound quality in his recordings. Nothing here is as good as the Royal Roost recordings, if that gives you any indication. Much of the time, there is a lot of distortion and the rhythm section isn't always audible. NOTE: The tracks here on Amazon's site for which there are sound snippets sound much better than later tracks where there is more distortion.
The quality of the music is easily worth five stars. The quality of sound would have to rate a two, though."