Every FIlm Clip of Charlie Parker, 7A—A Few More Silent Seconds from Sweden 1950

In the previous post we watched and learned about the little bit of silent footage of Bird from his tour of Sweden in 1950. I thank Len Pogost and Marcel Gärtner who pointed out that the excerpts used in the Sarah Vaughan documentary are different from the ones I shared before. This documentary was directed by Matthew Seig and co-produced by Toby Byron and Richard Saylor. It was aired in 1991 on public television in the U.S.A. and was also sold on DVD.

We saw the opening shot of Bird with his unassembled sax last time. But then we get a few seconds of Parker playing the saxophone (on silent film) that are not in the other documentary. (At the very end is a second of Gene Ammons from a film of the Billy Eckstine band, with sound, that you can easily find online.) I slowed it down a bit so that we can enjoy it more:

Saxophonists, that looks like a metal mouthpiece—yes?

OK! Now we’re ready for an in-depth study, in three parts, of the film of Bird and Diz on TV—coming soon.

All the best,
Lewis