KANSAS CITY, BIRD IN KANSAS CITY
HERE IT COMES
Verve Records is releasing Bird in Kansas City globally on October 25, 2024 on vinyl, CD, and digitally. It’s an album featuring a new set of rare recordings dating from between 1941-1951. Much of this collection has never been heard before and some recordings have never even been known to exist. Bird in Kansas City chronicles Charlie Parker’s evolution from a blossoming soloist with the Jay McShann Band into a brilliant improviser who changed the genre forever.
To celebrate Bird in Kansas City, the first track, “Cherokee,” can be heard on YouTube.
Chuck Haddix — scholar and author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, who also produced and wrote liner notes for this album — says, “‘Ray Noble’s ‘Cherokee’ was one of Bird’s favorite songs. Whenever he showed up late for a gig, he would make a grand entrance through the front door playing ‘Cherokee.’ Taken at a bright tempo, Charlie takes wing with a melodic solo that deftly navigates the song’s challenging chord changes.”
Charlie Parker: Bird in Kansas City CD
In addition to two unreleased 78s with the McShann band, Bird in Kansas City offers two sets of private recordings — at the home of Parker’s friend Phil Baxter and at Vic Damon’s studio— made with local musicians and a very relaxed-sounding Parker who has the room to stretch out and show us the shape of jazz that was to come in his wake.
Charlie Parker: Bird in Kansas City Sky Blue LP
Central to these recordings is Parker’s relationship to his hometown of Kansas City, a place he never lived again once he left in 1941 but remained deeply important to him; his mixed emotions owed to the city’s history of racial segregation and to his strong ties to his family and friends there. Though he never returned permanently, he frequently came home during breaks in his travels, and it is during those times that these recordings were made.
Tracklist:
1. Bird Song #1
2. Bird Song #2
3. Bird Song #3
4. Cherokee — Phil Baxter version
5. Body and Soul — Phil Baxter version
6. Honeysuckle Rose
7. Perdido
8. Cherokee — Vic Damon version
9. My Heart Tells Me
10. I Found a New Baby
11. Body and Soul — Vic Damon version
12. Margie
13. I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
