On July 26, 1953, Charlie Parker performed at the Open Door, a club near Washington Square in New York's Greenwich Village, with trumpeter Benny Harris, pianists Bud Powell and Al Haig, bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Art Taylor. This was exactly when Jack Kerouac was hanging out at the Open Door, absorbing the sights and sounds and taking notes that would soon form the basis for his novel The Subterraneans. It is possible and even likely that Kerouac was in the audience while these recordings were being made. The aural ...
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On July 26, 1953, Charlie Parker performed at the Open Door, a club near Washington Square in New York's Greenwich Village, with trumpeter Benny Harris, pianists Bud Powell and Al Haig, bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Art Taylor. This was exactly when Jack Kerouac was hanging out at the Open Door, absorbing the sights and sounds and taking notes that would soon form the basis for his novel The Subterraneans. It is possible and even likely that Kerouac was in the audience while these recordings were being made. The aural ambience is literally shaped by the room, the cigarette smoke, the crowd, the intoxicants, and the primitive tape-recording apparatus used to capture these precious moments near the end of Charlie Parker's brief life. Some solos by others were edited out, but this is no Dean Benedetti hack job; the cuts are relatively discreet, the musicians are inspired, and the listener is made to feel like a patron at a ringside table. What's really exciting about this anthology is the profound sensation of artistic evolution in progress. During "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Ornithology," Bird sounds at times a little like Ornette Coleman. Jazz -- like all of the arts -- was heading directly toward regions of creativity that reflected a refreshing new attitude toward freedom of expression. What Bird was hinting at in 1953 would soon begin to show up on studio recordings by young Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and Sun Ra. Those who cherish and revere the music of Charlie Parker stand a good chance of being profoundly moved by the music captured live at the Open Door and reissued by the Ember label 47 years later. ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi
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Add this copy of At the Open Door to cart. $16.36, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Ember.
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