Complete Charlie Parker on Dial
Box set by Charlie Parker
Released	July 23, 1996 (1996-July-23)
Recorded	March 28, 1946 – December 17, 1947
Genre	Jazz
Length	253:09
Label	Jazz Classics
Producer	Bernard Brightman, Will Friedwald, Tony Williams
Charlie Parker chronology
Charlie Parker with Strings (1995) Complete Charlie Parker on Dial (1996) Cool Bird (2000)

Professional ratings

Review scores
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Allmusic	[1]

Complete Charlie Parker on Dial is a 1996 box set release of jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker's 1946–47 recordings for Dial Records. The box set, released by Jazz Classics, features 89 songs, including alternate takes and notes composed by jazz historian and Parker biographer Ira Gitler. John Genarri, author of the book Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics singles out the recording of "Lover Man" on this album, noting that "[t]his wrenching, anguished version...has been called Parker's most poetic statement on record" though, says Gennari, Parker himself viewed it as substandard and threatened physical violence against Ross Russell, a Dial records producer, for including it.^[2] Gennari also indicates that other tracks included on this CD—"Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Cheers", "Stupendous" and "Carvin' the Bird"—"have struck many listeners as his most joyous and optimistic."^[2]

Recording history

Recording during Parker's tenure with Dial Records between March 28, 1946, and December 17, 1947, these 89 songs have been released multiple times.^[3] Spotlite Records in Britain released them in a series of vinyl volumes entitled Charlie Parker on Dial in the 1970s and re-released them on CD in a box set in 1993. They were released in a box set in 2004 by Stash Records. This 1996 box set groups takes and sessions together to allow listeners to closely compare the progression of the material as Parker and his fellow musicians developed it, with jazz improvisation morphing covered material as well as Parker's own compositions into different songs.

Track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs composed by Charlie Parker.

Disc 1

1. "Diggin' Diz" (George Handy) – 2:53
2. "Moose the Mooche" (Take 1) – 2:59
3. "Moose the Mooche" (Take) – 3:04
4. "Moose the Mooche" (Take 2) – 3:04
5. "Yardbird Suite" (Take 1) – 2:41
6. "Yardbird Suite" (Take 4, Master) – 2:56
7. "Ornithology" (Take 1) (Benny Harris, Parker) – 3:03
8. "Ornithology" (a.k.a. "Bird Lore") (Take 3) (Harris, Parker) – 3:19
9. "Ornithology" (Take 4, Master) (Harris, Parker) – 3:01
10. "A Night in Tunisia" (a.k.a. "the Famous Alto Break") (take 1) (Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli) – :51
11. "A Night in Tunisia" (Take 4) (Gillespie, Paparelli) – 3:08
12. "A Night in Tunisia" (Take 5, Master) (Gillespie, Paparelli) – 3:04
13. "Max (Is) Making Wax" (Take A, Master) (Oscar Pettiford) – 2:33
14. "Lover Man" (Take A, Master) (Jimmy David, Roger "Ram" Ramirez, Jimmy Sherman) – 3:22
15. "The Gypsy" (Take) (Billy Reid) – 3:05
16. "Rebop" (Take A, Master) (Gillespie) – 2:56
17. "Blues, No. 1" (Short) – :48
18. "Blues, No. 1" (Long) – 1:08
19. "Yardbird Suite" – 2:15
20. "Lullaby in Rhythm, Pt. 1" (Benny Goodman, Walter Hirsch, Clarence Profit, Edgar Sampson) – 1:33
21. "Lullaby in Rhythm, Pt. 2" (Goodman, Hirsch, Profit, Sampson) – 1:36
22. "Home Cooking, No. 1: Opus" (Hal McKusick) – 2:24
23. "Home Cooking, No. 2: Cherokee" (Ray Noble) – 2:09
24. "Home Cooking, No. 3: I Got Rhythm" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:26

Disc 2

1. "This is Always" (Take C, Master) (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) – 3:15
2. "This is Always" (Take D, Alternate) (Gordon, Warren) – 3:11
3. "Dark Shadows" (Take A, Alternate) (Shifty Henry) – 4:05
4. "Dark Shadows" (Take B, Alternate) (Henry) – 3:12
5. "Dark Shadows" (Take C, Master) (Henry) – 3:07
6. "Dark Shadows" (Take D, Alternate) (Henry) – 3:01
7. "Bird's Nest" (Take A, Master 1) – 2:53
8. "Bird's Nest" (Take B, Alternate) – 2:52
9. "Bird's Nest" (Take C, Master 2) – 2:44
10. "Cool Blues" (a.k.a. "Hot Blues") – 1:59
11. "Cool Blues" (a.k.a. "Blowtop Blues") – 2:25
12. "Cool Blues" (Take C, Master) – 3:09
13. "Cool Blues" (Take D, Alternate) – 2:53
14. "Relaxin' at Camarillo" (Take A) – 3:08
15. "Relaxin' at Camarillo" (Take C) – 3:07
16. "Relaxin' at Camarillo" (Take D) – 3:03
17. "Relaxin' at Camarillo" (Take E) – 2:59
18. "Cheers" (Take A) (Howard McGhee) – 3:11
19. "Cheers" (Take B) (McGhee) – 3:06
20. "Cheers" (Take C) (McGhee) – 3:03
21. "Cheers" (Take D) (McGhee) – 3:06
22. "Carvin' the Bird" (Take A, Alternate) (McGhee) – 2:46
23. "Carvin' the Bird" (Take B, Master) (McGhee) – 2:46
24. "Stupendous" (Take A, Master) (Melvin Broiles, McGhee) – 2:55
25. "Stupendous" (a.k.a. "Surprising") (Take B, Alternate) (Broiles, McGhee) – 2:53

Disc 3

1. "Dexterity" (Take A, Alternate) – 2:59
2. "Dexterity" (Take B, Master) – 3:00
3. "Bongo Bop" (a.k.a. "Blues") – 2:46
4. "Bongo Bop" (a.k.a. "Blues" and "Parker's Blues") – 2:46
5. "Dewey Square" (a.k.a. "Prezology/Bird Feathers") – 3:31
6. "Dewey Square" (Take B, Alternate) – 3:04
7. "Dewey Square" (Take C, Master) – 3:09
8. "The Hymn" (Take A, Master) – 2:34
9. "The Hymn" (Take B, Alternate) – 2:30
10. "Bird of Paradise" (Take A) – 3:10
11. "Bird of Paradise" (Take B) – 3:12
12. "Bird of Paradise" (Take C) – 3:13
13. "Embraceable You" (Take A) (Gershwin, Gershwin) – 3:49
14. "Embraceable You" (Take B) (Gershwin, Gershwin) – 3:25
15. "Bird Feathers" (a.k.a. "Schnourphology") (Take C, Master) – 2:53
16. "Klact-Oveeseds-Tene" (Take A, Master) – 3:08
17. "Klact-Oveeseds-Tene" (Take B, Alternate) – 3:07
18. "Scrapple from the Apple" (Take B, Alternate) – 2:41
19. "Scrapple from the Apple" (a.k.a. "Little Be-Bop") (Take C, Master) – 2:57

Disc 4

1. "My Old Flame" (Take A, Master) (Sam Coslow, Arthur Johnston) – 3:15
2. "Out of Nowhere" (Take A) (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman) – 4:06
3. "Out of Nowhere" (Take B) (Green, Heyman) – 3:52
4. "Out of Nowhere" (Take C) (Green, Heyman) – 3:08
5. "Don't Blame Me" (Take A, Master) (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) – 2:49
6. "Drifting on a Reed" (Take B, Alternate) – 2:58
7. "Drifting on a Reed" (Take D, Alternate) – 2:55
8. "Drifting on a Reed" (a.k.a. "Air Conditioning") (Take E, Master) – 2:54
9. "Quasimado (Quasimodo)" (Take A, Alternate) – 2:56
10. "Quasimado (Quasimodo)" (a.k.a. "Trade Winds") (Take B, Master) – 2:55
11. "Charlie's Wig" (a.k.a. "Bongo Bop") – 2:48
12. "Charlie's Wig" (a.k.a. "Drifting on a Road") – 2:48
13. "Charlie's Wig" (Take E, Master) – 2:44
14. "Bongo Beep" (a.k.a. "Dexterity") (Take B) – 2:59
15. "Bongo Beep" (a.k.a. "Bird Feathers" and "Charlie's Wig") (Take C) – 2:59
16. "Crazeology (Little Benny)" (Take A, Excerpt) (Little Benny Harris) – 1:03
17. "Crazeology (Little Benny)" (Take B, Excerpt) (Harris) – :35
18. "Crazeology (Little Benny)" (Take C) (Harris) – 2:59
19. "Crazeology (Little Benny)" (Take D, Master 2. Also issues as Move and Bird Feathers) (Harris) – 3:00
20. "How Deep is the Ocean?" (Take A, Master) (Irving Berlin) – 3:25
21. "How Deep is the Ocean?" (Take B, Alternate) (Berlin) – 3:25

Personnel

Performance

• Melvin Broiles – trumpet
• Jimmy Bunn – piano
• Red Callender – bass
• Earl Coleman – vocals
• Miles Davis – trumpet
• Arnold Fishkind – bass
• Russ Freeman – piano
• Erroll Garner – piano
• Arv Garrison – guitar
• Wardell Gray – sax (tenor)
• J.J. Johnson – trombone
• Duke Jordan – piano
• Barney Kessel – guitar
• Bob "Dingbod" Kesterson – bass
• Don Lamond – drums
• Dodo Marmarosa – piano
• Howard McGhee – trumpet
• Vic McMillan – bass
• Charlie Parker – sax (alto)
• Roy Porter – drums
• Tommy Potter – bass
• Jimmy Pratt – drums
• Max Roach – drums
• Shorty Rogers – trumpet
• Lucky Thompson – sax (tenor)
• Harold "Doc" West – drums

Production

• Will Friedwald – reissue producer
• Tony Williams – reissue producer, digital engineer
• Ben Jordan – engineer
• David J. Weiner – associate producer
• Bernard Brightman – executive producer
• Ira Gitler – historical research