Complete Dial Masters 6 Bonus Tracks

I've never felt a need to write a review on Amazon before, but having just got this item in the mail, I thought I would help other potential buyers out. It's a great 2 cd collection of classic jazz tracks. The sound is fine with just a few hisses and pops. There are a few concerns though...First, Definitive is a European label, and the liner notes (all 2 pages) suffer from poor translation.Second, the September 29, 1947 concert advertised as being included is nowhere to be found. The last 4 songs were not recorded for Dial, so that's an extra, but it would have been preferable to include the '47 concert (in part or in full) instead.Third, not all the songs are master takes. That's right. If you thought you were getting the "Complete Dial Masters" think again. Specifically, "The Hymn," "Bird Of Paradise," "Bird Feathers," "Out Of Nowhere," "Drifting On A Reed," "Bongo Beep," "Crazeology," and "How Deep Is The Ocean?" are all alternate takes. Before you pass this up keep in mind that the alternate takes for these sessions were often as good or even better than those chosen for the masters. It's not like Miles Davis or Max Roach or Bird were stumbling over themselves. They're great songs, just not the master takes like it says on the cover.All in all, the price is what makes this collection desirable. If you can live with 8 of the songs not actually being masters, snap this one up. If not, save your dough and keep your eyes peeled for a nice used copy of "The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes" on Savoy Jazz. For the money, this is a good deal. Anyone interested at all in jazz or good music should take a listen.

Great

These recordings of the Bird belongs to the best part of his career (1944-1948). In that period Charlie Parker recorded for two companies, this little house based in L.A. and for Savoy Records. Both published the best recordings at all of the Bird, so the best solution would be to buy the BOX set which I bought last month (see other review of mine). But if you don't have so much money to INVEST for your ears so you should value this Dial CD, because of the importance and beauty of these recordings. Bird with these songs took a revolution in jazz. It was a storm after IInd World War to come back home in NYC and listen to what this guy was doing with other men in The Street (52nd Street, obviously). "Moose the Mooche" was dedicated to the guy in LA who was able to "deliver" to Bird the daily quantity of heroin. So this is for itself a narration of what kind of musician the Bird was. Ornithology, A Night in Tunisia (the song was however by Dizzy) are other tunes from these recordings, played also by Miles Davis on tp. The session with "Lover Man" and "Max is Making Wax" is one of the most famous recording sessions ever happened in the history of jazz. Bird was down that day, in the studio there was a psychiatre to survey the session. It is tremendous to listen to that tunes... Other must are "Cool Blues" and "Bird's Nest", "Stupendous" all songs where it is possible to hear the extraordinary solo lines of Bird. Many people tried to imitate, noone succeeded. It is still so, after more than 50 years.

Although actually recorded in New York or California,with Miles Davis on 22 of 39 tracks. quintet sextet septet

Definitive records? This sounds like it was burned off of some scratched up LP's, look elsewhere for the Dial recording's on CD.

I bought this on the strength of buying (elsewhere) the 'Savoy Masters' from the same series. Both are great.I saw a previous review here and can say that my copy has a 12 page booklet of liner notes. I am not 100% sure all the tracks are the exact masters - I'm not that knowledgeable about Parker - but a good effort has been made to present his rather chaotic recording life grouped together by date; as the liner notes (both collections) suggest the records were put out under various names and recorded under various circumstances so it is almost a mark of authenticity that they reflect this. Basically I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.The sound is great. You can keep the volume knob low as the recoding is loud and generally clear - there are some recordings that are rougher than others but that is what has come down to us. When 'Bird' is at his best it is fantastic and these recordings are far better than the "Best Of"' types of releases which, frankly, put me off Charlie Parker for years. The price is great too.

That Dial are PROPERLY MADE . In the past I've purchased many dial reissues both on vinyl and cds ,but I've ever found them disappointing in sound quality, if compared to my 78,s original collection . That is the best reissue I've ever had .

What more can I say?

Great, have enjoyed this cd

La discographie de Parker c'est l"enfer. On y comprend rien. Par où commencer?Moi j'avais lu un petit bouquin il y a vingt ans qui m'avait un peu aidé à y voir plus clair et j'avais opté pour l'intégrale des sessions pour Dial. Pour mieux suivre ses enregistrements il vaut toujours mieux avoir sa biographie en tête. Ou en tout cas ce qu'on en connait.En ce qui me concerne les morceaux de ma période préférée commence tout de suite après son emprisonnement/internement en Californie. "Cool Blues" (avec Garner) et "Relaxin' at Camarillo" (avec entre autres Barney Kessel). S'ouvre ensuite la période faste avec le jeune Miles.Mais énumérer tous les gens qui ont joué avec Parker n'aurait pas grand sens (à moins d'imiter France Musique par les Inconnus). Ce qui est clair c'est que ça pose un homme. Il n'y a que des grands noms et dans cette grande émulation qu'est le Jazz jouer avec Parker faisait faire quelques pas (de géant) en avant.Parce que c'est un musicien et une personnalité hors normes qui dépasse très largement le cadre du Jazz. Peu importe le biais par lequel on le prend (même le décrié "with strings") ce qui compte c'est de l'écouter. Cet homme avait une vision musicale très profonde, révolutionnaire et en même temps on est vite connecté sur l'émotion pure.Si on devait me condamner à n'écouter plus qu'un seul musicien de Jazz jusqu'à la fin de mes jours je pense que j'opterais pour Charlie Parker."The complete Jazz Masters" est la porte d'entrée idéale vers l'univers de ce génie carbonisé.