This 2021 box collects / reproduces the 10″ LPs put out in the early 1950s:

  • Charlie Parker With Strings (1950)
  • Charlie Parker With Strings (1954)
  • Bird and Diz (1952)
  • Charlie Parker Plays South of the Border (1952)
  • Charlie Parker (1954)

I don’t normally collect 10″ records, but got a good deal on this box, which is very well made, reproducing original covers and labels, and with an included book. Neither of the two “Charlie Parker With Strings” LPs actually has the on it which can get confusing – the one with the two birds on it is the second. Most of these reproduce their Mercury labels except for the one just titled Charlie Parker which was only on Clef.

Artwork on all these covers by David Stone Martin. Players with Charlie Parker include Bernie Leighton, Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Mitch Miller, Max Roach, Al Haig, Percy Heath, Thelonius Monk, Curly Russell, and Dizzy Gillespie (among others). Norman Granz wrote most (all?) the sleeve notes and supervised the recordings.

Still available in the Verve Store (and elsewhere I’m sure) it is well worth picking up.