Long Play on The Nightside – Celebrates KUVO & Charlie Parker Birthdays

Tune in to Long Play during the 11 o’clock hour of The Nightside with Andy O’…these special extensive compositions needed a deeper listen.

“Parkerenia” (21:45) by Charles Mingus from “The Great Concert of Charles Mingus” recorded 4/19/1964.
Featuring: Eric Dolphy-Alto Saxophone, Flute, Bass Clarinet, Charles Mingus-Bass,Jaki Byard-Piano, Clifford Jordan-Tenor Saxophone, and Dannie Richmond-Drums

The Great Concert of Charles Mingus is a live album by the jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus, recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France, on April 19, 1964. It was originally released as a triple album in 1971 on the French America label. The album was recorded just two days after the live sessions that produced Revenge!, which was also recorded live in Paris. Parkerenia is a tour de force medley of well-known songs recorded by Charlie Parker and stands as one of the greatest live Jazz performances ever recorded.

“Lady Be Good” (10:33) Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars

This version of “Oh, Lady, Be Good” was recorded on January 28, 1946, by saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young, who together shared a bill in that year’s Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series in Los Angeles. The series, founded in 1944 by jazz producer Norman Granz, brought together prominent musicians from the era onto a single stage, initially at the Philharmonic Theater Auditorium in L.A., but later in various venues throughout the United States and Europe. The series — which is said to have been launched on $300 in borrowed cash — would come to an end in 1983, leaving behind a trove of classic recordings. In 2010, those recordings were entered into the United States’ esteemed National Recording Registry.

Bird and Young’s take on this Great American Songbook Standard is an exemplary showcase of the era’s prominent jazz styles: swing and bebop. Parker, soloing first, scribbles hard and fast outside the traditional jazz harmonic template, revealing a fleet mind and even fleeter fingers. Young, meanwhile, is cool and laconic, letting his deep-rooted sense of swing and seductive tone do the talking.

Long Play is a deep dive during the last hour of The Nightside into the music that time forgot.

Tune in to The Nightside with Andy O’ on Sunday night, August 29, from 8 to midnight.

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