Jazz at Massey Hall

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For the Herbie Hancock album, see Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall.
Jazz at Massey Hall
Live album by
the Quintet
ReleasedDecember 1953 (1953-12)
Recorded15 May 1953
VenueMassey Hall, Toronto, Canada
GenreBebop
Length46:54
LabelDebut/OJC
America
ProducerCharles Mingus
Charlie Parker chronology
South of the Border
(1952) 		Jazz at Massey Hall
(1953) 		Big Band
(1954)
Bud Powell chronology
The Amazing Bud Powell
(1952) 		Jazz at Massey Hall
(1953) 		The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
(1954)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
MSN Music (Consumer Guide)A[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[4]
All About Jazz[5]

Jazz at Massey Hall is a live jazz album recorded on 15 May 1953 at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada. Credited to "the Quintet", the group was composed of five leading "modern" players of the day: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. It was the only time that the five musicians recorded together as a unit, and it was the last recorded meeting of Parker and Gillespie.[6]

Background[edit]

The first pianist considered by the organizers was Lennie Tristano, but he suggested Powell as a more appropriate match for the other musicians.[7] Oscar Pettiford was considered as an alternative to Mingus.[7]

The concert[edit]

Parker played a Grafton saxophone on this date; he could not be listed on the original album cover for contractual reasons, so was billed as "Charlie Chan", an allusion to the fictional detective and to Parker's wife Chan. The concert included performances by both the entire quintet and a trio consisting of Powell, Mingus, and Roach, as well as a Roach drum solo.

The original plan was for the Toronto New Jazz Society and the musicians to share the profits from the concert. However, owing to a boxing prize fight between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott taking place simultaneously, the audience was so small that the Society was unable to pay the musicians' fees. The musicians were all given NSF checks, and only Parker was able to cash his; Gillespie noted that he did not receive his fee "for years and years".[8]

Jazz authority Burt Korall says that for Roach, this performance was a "culmination on record of music and relationships developed in the 1940s." Despite the difficulties, according to Korall, "the music was the great leveler." [9]

The opening act on the night was a 16-piece big band billed as the CBS All Stars.[10]

Album releases[edit]

The record was originally issued in December 1953[11] on Mingus's label Debut, from a recording made by the Toronto New Jazz Society (Dick Wattam, Alan Scharf, Roger Feather, Boyd Raeburn and Arthur Granatstein).[12][13] Mingus took the recording to New York where he and Max Roach dubbed in the bass lines, which were under-recorded on most of the tunes, and exchanged Mingus soloing on "All the Things You Are".

A 2002 reissue, Complete Jazz at Massey Hall, released on The Jazz Factory label, contains the full concert, without the overdubbing.[14]

Jazz at Massey Hall was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995.[15] It is included in National Public Radio's "Basic Jazz Library".[16] The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings included the album in its suggested "core collection" of essential recordings.[4] The concert was issued in some territories under the tag "the greatest jazz concert ever".[14]

Track listing[edit]

(Originally issued as two 10" LPs:)

Vol. 1 (Debut DLP-2)

  1. "Perdido" (Juan Tizol) – 7:43
  2. "Salt Peanuts" (Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke) – 7:39
  3. "All the Things You Are" (Jerome Kern)/"52nd Street Theme" (Thelonious Monk) – 7:52

Vol. 3 (Debut DLP-4)

  1. "Wee (Allen's Alley)" (Denzil Best) – 6:41
  2. "Hot House" (Tadd Dameron) – 9:11
  3. "A Night in Tunisia" (Gillespie, Frank Paparelli) – 7:34

(Vol. 2 consists of the trio recordings of Powell, Mingus and Roach from the same date: all but "I've Got You Under My Skin", and one track by Billy Taylor with Mingus and Roach from a later date.)

(Issued as 12" LP:)

(Debut DEB-124)

  1. "Perdido" (Juan Tizol)
  2. "Salt Peanuts" (Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke)
  3. "All the Things You Are" (Jerome Kern)
  4. "52nd Street Theme" (Thelonious Monk)
  5. "Wee (Allen's Alley)" (Denzil Best)
  6. "Hot House" (Tadd Dameron)
  7. "A Night in Tunisia" (Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

(The 2004 reissue contains fourteen tracks, of which nos. 5 through 11 are without Parker and Gillespie:)

  1. "Perdido" (Juan Tizol)
  2. "Salt Peanuts" (Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke)
  3. "All the Things You Are" (Jerome Kern)
  4. "52nd Street Theme" (Thelonious Monk)
  5. "Drum Conversation" (Max Roach)
  6. "Cherokee" (Ray Noble)
  7. "Embraceable You" (George Gershwin)
  8. "Hallelujah (Jubilee)" (Vincent Youmans)
  9. "Sure Thing" (Bud Powell)
  10. "Lullaby of Birdland" (George Shearing)
  11. "I've Got You Under My Skin" (Cole Porter)
  12. "Wee (Allen's Alley)" (Denzil Best)
  13. "Hot House" (Tadd Dameron)
  14. "A Night in Tunisia" (Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

Tracks 5 through 11 are without Parker and Gillespie.

Personnel[edit]

An album of a trio set, played by Powell, Mingus and Roach at the concert, was also issued (tracks 6 through 11 above).[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Yanow, Scott (2011). "Jazz at Massey Hall - The Quintet | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (December 18, 2012). "The Quintet/Charlie Parker". MSN Music. Microsoft. Archived from the original on January 10, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 158. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1119. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  5. ^ Bailey, C. Michael (August 9, 2005). "Bud Powell: The Complete Jazz At Massey Hall". All About Jazz. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  6. ^ Brian Priestley Mingus. A Critical Biography, London: Palladin, 1985, p.63.
  7. ^ a b Shim, Eunmi (2007). Lennie Tristano – His Life in Music. University of Michigan Press. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-472-11346-0.
  8. ^ Shipton, Alyn (1999). Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. Oxford University Press. p. 252.
  9. ^ Korall, Burt (2004). Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz: The Bebop Years. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 103. ISBN 9780195346510.
  10. ^ Goodstein, Jack (May 1, 2012). "Music Review: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charles Mingus - The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall [Remastered]". Seattle PI. Retrieved 2023-07-14 – via Blogcritics.
  11. ^ "Down Beat's' Five Star Discs". DownBeat. December 30, 1953. p. 1. The following records represent the cream of the last two weeks' crop. ... Jazz at Massey Hall.
  12. ^ loosemoose (5 September 2017). "Charlie Parker - Massey Hall". Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  13. ^ Abocar, Amran (May 20, 2003). "Canada Relives 'Greatest' Jazz Concert after 50 Years". E Jazz News. Archived from the original on June 7, 2003.
  14. ^ a b Allmusic.com "Complete Jazz at Massey Hall"
  15. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database Archived 2011-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Horwitz, Murray; A. B. Spellman (2005-06-23). "Charlie Parker: 'Jazz at Massey Hall'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  17. ^ Rusch, Bob. "Bud Powell: Jazz at Massey Hall, Vol. 2". AllMusic. Retrieved January 9, 2024.

Other sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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