Bird bursts on the scene: the fantastic “Ko Ko” on the Savoy label recorded in New York City on November 26, 1945. One of the first bebop recordings and Charlie Parker’s first session as a bandleader.
Pianist Bud Powell couldn’t make the session and alternate Sadik Hakim didn’t have a union card – so Dizzy Gillespie wound up playing both trumpet and piano on this revolutionary track.
Miles Davis gets a trumpet credit but wrote later that he didn’t play on this date, feeling that he wasn’t ready to play complex changes at this hyperfast tempo of 300 bpm.
This copy originally belonged to novelist and poet Robley Wilson, who I was lucky enough to briefly correspond with in 2018 before he passed away. He was a fan of big band but bought his first Charlie Parker record, “Billie’s Bounce” in the late 40s. He started collecting the records of Bird and Diz and wrote: “Those old labels, Savoy and Dial and Musicraft, I can still see in my mind’s eye.”
After retiring from teaching creative writing at @northern_iowa, Robley moved to Florida. He gave his 78s to one of the movers, and they ended up at a local record store. Robley had put stickers with his name and address on every record – so I took a chance and looked him up. It’s nice when records can tell their story.
Released as Savoy 597 in 1945.
More on “Ko Ko”:
“The Story Of Charlie Parker’s ‘Ko Ko’” (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2000/08/27/1081208/-i-ko-ko-i
“Charlie Parker’s Koko – the Sound of a Revolution” (The Culture Club blog)
http://www.thecultureclub.net/2007/06/12/charlie-parkers-koko-the-sound-of-a-revolution/
“Ko Ko” (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko-Ko
Leave a Reply