New Charlie Parker interview

Leigh Kamman

Wonders never cease. I've just discovered broadcaster Leigh Kamman's YouTube channel, as well as his website. Kamman passed away in 2014, aged 92.

Among the jewels in his vaults, there is the short interview below with Charlie Parker, posted only yesterday. It's a phone-in, and Kamman introduces himself as "The Little Bandmaster" from The 1280 Club on WOV, New York.

The interview is short, but still illuminating with regard to Bird's preferences in jazz (he singles out Clifford Brown, and then, from California, Chet Baker and Frank Morgan) classical music (Bartok and Stravinsky), and his promotion of his music with large ensembles. Kamman had just played "Autumn in New York" and they agree that he will put "Lover" on after the call. 

Regarding the date, although it is listed as "1954", and it would not be impossible—readers of an earlier version of this post will know that Parker had one gig at Birdland that year, from which he was fired. That 1954 gig started on August 26, it was broadcast on the 27th, and Bird was fired from Birdland on the 29th, his birthday. The most likely date, in that scenario, would be the 28th. However, I think an earlier date is more plausible, given the records and names mentioned in the conversation.

According to Ken Vail's Bird's Diary and Leif Bo Petersen's online chronology, Parker had first met and played with Clifford Brown in 1951 in Philadelphia (August 13-19 seem the most probable dates), and he first met Chet Baker and Frank Morgan in California in May-July 1952 (there is a recording of the three together from July 15 at Jerry Zorthian’s Ranch in Altadena, CA). About his stay in California, Parker also names a drummer he calls "Brownie", which he may or may not be mixing up with Clifford Brown's nickname; for what it's worth, the drummer in all his bootleg recordings with Chet Baker is Larance Marable. 

About Baker, Parker says that he "ran into a trumpet player, Chet Baker, in California, about two or three months ago", which sounds like it was their first meeting, placing this interview sometime in the autumn of '52. 

Kamman recognizes Baker from the Gerry Mulligan quartet: their first record was reviewed on Billboard on October 25, 1952. Furthermore, the two tracks by Charlie Parker bookending the interview were both recorded on the same session in January 1952; "Autumn in New York" was released in April, and "Lover" in July. It is worth remembering that radio jazz shows at the time played mostly recent records.

There is always the possibility that an interviewee might misremember dates. Parker himself, in a well-known interview with Paul Desmond in 1954, got a few dates wrong from a decade before. It seems unlikely to misremember a timespan of "two or three months". Also, from my experience querying musicians about sessions, the fact that Parker links "Lover" to "Autumn in New York" may well indicate that it was a recent event.

At the beginning of the interview, Kamman says "the other night we caught you down at Birdland blowing some wonderful sounds with that alto saxophone", and he closes with "thank you very much for taking time out before you go down to Birdland for a big session tonight". This seems to imply that Parker was playing Birdland frequently. 

As far as we know, Parker had his "cabaret card" (the permit to play in nightclubs in New York) revoked for the second half of 1952 and early 1953, but we know of least two one-nighters at Birdland in 1952, on September 21 and November 2, because they were 1) broadcast (it looks like they were not bothered to keep it a secret), and 2) recorded by Boris Rose—more non-broadcast appearances at the club seem likely. (In 1953 he had his card back, and he was able to keep steadier jobs at the club: he did whole weeks in May, June and July in 1953.) 

All the above considered, I think this interview happened before 1954, most probably in the autumn of 1952. Kim Parker, Chan Richardson's daughter from a previous relationship, has confirmed it was her who answered the phone:

"Yes. That was definitely me answering the phone. I can't tell you the date though. My guess would be 1952. If I knew the month, I might be able to pinpoint the year. We left New York City in October of 1954. Pree died in March of 1954. That makes me think it was 1952. I thought my telephone technique was quite good."

Kamman's interview with Parker can be heard below. The voice picking up the phone would be that of 6-year old Kim Parker:

You can hear the complete sequence, including the music, here.