The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings 1944-1948

Disc 1 begins with Parker as a sideman for guitarist Tiny Grimes, which yielded the pre-bop jump-blues sides "Tiny's Tempo" and "Romance Without Finance." The other tracks are first-generation bop classics: "Groovin' High," "Salt Peanuts," "Koko," and "Hot House." The remaining seven discs feature Bird's genius in other musical dimensions. Bird's recompositions of the standards "All the Things You Are," "Whispering," and "Embraceable You" stand out, as do the zesty "Barbados," "Bongo Bop," and "Night in Tunisia" (with the famous alto break). Underrated baritone Earl Coleman sings the ebony-embered ballad "Dark Shadows." But above all, Bird was a blues player. Nothing illustrates this better than the memorable blues ballad "Parker's Mood," on which his soulful, wailing alto is matched by John Lewis's rich, lyrical accompaniment. These tracks contain other gems, including a young and nervous Miles Davis sputtering Fats Navarro-style trumpet solos on "Milestones" and "Now's the Time," with Gillespie playing piano. Although he died at the age of 34 in 1955, Parker, along with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, formed the Holy Trinity that created bebop, and this set is Bird flying high. --Eugene Holley Jr.