This four-CD set contains a somewhat streamlined presentation of Parker's comple

te known live broadcasts from New York's Royal Roost, dating during 1948 and 194
9, augmented with five of the live September 29, 1947, Carnegie Hall recordings
and one lower-quality tape made in Chicago during 1950. The vitality of these pe
rformances still radiates off the tapes in whatever format they're reproduced 50
-plus years later
the interaction between the bandmembers, which include Miles D
avis (or Kenny Dorham) on trumpet and Max Roach at the drums, and Tadd Dameron o
r Al Haig at the ivories, is spellbinding. The difference between these performa
nces and Parker's studio work of the period is that he was always "on" for the b
roadcasts, and had already achieved something of a peak that he still missed in
his studio work of the era those along with him rose to the occasion, as witness
ed by Kenny Dorham's playing on Miles Davis' "Half Nelson" in December of 1947.
On the other hand, nobody could touch Parker when he was at his peak on stage, w
hich he ascends easily on a jam set to Irving Berlin's "White Christmas." The Ch
icago material, which exists on a separate CD from Savoy (One Night in Chicago),
isn't as well recorded
the rhythm section is muted, and the balances are off, b
ut Parker is certainly audible, and hearing his improvisations on material like
Rodgers & Hart's "There's a Small Hotel" is worth the price of the disc, even on
what amounts to a good audience tape. The source material has been very careful
ly mastered, striking a good balance between clean playback and fidelity to the
original performance, and the dozens of pages of notes represent virtually a sep
arate, free-standing book on Parker during this period in his career.
Bruce Eder