In celebration of its 60th anniversary, and the most recent of its many revivals, the Savoy label is reissuing some of its legendary material in special packages.
The first, Charlie Parker: The Complete Savoy and Dial Recordings, includes 20 of Parker’s first-rate tracks from the years 1944 through 1948, when many feel he was in his prime. The disc begins with a 1944 date with Tiny Grimes, on which Bird was a sideman, and features many tunes that became bebop standards. The list of performers is a who’s who of bebop, including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, J.J. Johnson, John Lewis, Max Roach and Howard McGhee.
Lester Young: The Complete Savoy Recordings is a two-disc set that showcases Pres at two different periods in his career. The first disc is comprised of three sessions recorded over two weeks in 1944. Session number one was a sextet led by Johnny Guarnieri that also included Billy Butterfield on trumpet and Hank D’Amico on clarinet. Session two featured Young with some Basie band mates recording under altoist Earle Warren. Sidemen on this session included tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate, trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, guitarist Freddie Green and drummer Jo Jones. A quintet session comprises the last few tracks, featuring Count Basie on piano and Green on guitar. The second disc begins with a June 1949 studio recording featuring Young, Junior Mance on piano and Roy Haynes on drums. The rest of the disc features nine tracks from a live 1950 performance in Chicago.
Stan Getz: The Complete Savoy Recordings features the tenor saxist on his first dates as a leader, from the late 1940s. A 1946 quartet recording kicks off the collection, featuring Getz, only 19 at the time, along with Hank Jones, Curly Russell and Max Roach. Another session with Kai Windig on trombone, trumpeter Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne on drums makes up the middle part of the disc. The remaining tracks are comprised from a 1949 session featuring Getz with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims (who Getz played with in Woody Herman’s band), as well as Jimmy Raney on guitar and Duke Jordan on piano.
Produced by Orrin Keepnews, each CD comes with a booklet featuring photographs, as well as liner notes written by Keepnews (Parker), Loren Schoenberg (Young) and Doug Ramsey (Getz).
For more information, visit www.savoyjazz.com.
Originally Published