Every Film Clip of Charlie Parker,8: Bird and Diz 1952, Background Info +Bonus

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Because of the great response to the first personal memory story that I posted, I am working on others that I will put up here every now and then. Meanwhile, let’s continue with the other sequences of articles that I’ve begun:

You can easily find the first seven essays in this Parker film series by entering “Charlie Parker” in the search bar above, or using the new Index on the home page. The last surviving footage of Parker, and the only with “live” sound, that is, where you hear what he actually played while the camera was running, is the famous performance of Tadd Dameron's tune "Hot House" with Dizzy Gillespie from 1952. The kinescope (a 16 mm film copy of the broadcast) was discovered by the late film authority David Chertok. He first screened it in 1975 at one of his jazz film programs. I was present for the premiere, and I believe it was part of the annual jazz festival in New York, produced by George Wein, during the years when there was no Newport jazz festival. I remember that Dan Morgenstern and other well-known jazz authorities were there, and were amazed. Shortly afterward, in October 1975, the film made its television debut on Gil Noble's ABC-TV program, Like It Is. Because the announcer in the kinescope gives out awards for 1951, this was originally thought to be from that year. But the DownBeat awards come out at the end of each year, and the actual broadcast date was found to be Sunday, February 24, 1952.

The host, newspaper columnist Earl Wilson, had two variety shows at the time, which has caused some confusion in listings of this clip. "Date on Broadway" ran from 7:30 to 8p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, and some sources mistakenly list that show as the source. (Others incorrectly say “Center Stage,” which has been the name of various TV shows from 1954 to recent years.) But there was also a weekly show every Sunday from 7 to 7:30 p.m.,"Stage Entrance," and that is the program that featured Bird and Diz.

The music for both of Wilson's shows at this time was supplied by pianist Dick Hyman and a bassist. On my behalf, the late critic and historian Ira Gitler spoke with Hyman in 2004—Dick is still with us at age 96—and reported this information: “He usually worked with bassist George Shaw. Shaw was unavailable the night that Leonard Feather arranged for Diz and Bird to appear, so they got Sandy Block (I think he was a WNEW radio staffer) to sub, and brought in Charlie Smith on drums.” Block was also the regular bassist with Sy Oliver’s band, which recorded for Decca Records and had backed up Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, on separate sessions, in 1951. Drummer Charlie Smith worked with Erroll Garner and many others, and just after this broadcast, he became part of Billy Taylor's trio (1952-4). He was left handed, as shown by his setup. At the very end you will see his name in script on his bass drum.

The clip begins with an interesting conversation. Wilson calls out Feather from the wings and they discuss the Down Beat awards, and the fact that all races are equally eligible to win them. (Hold your comments—I’ve got an entire essay on the racial aspect of this film, coming soon.) Then they bring Parker and Gillespie onstage to receive their awards. Bird is given the plaque for Best Alto Saxophonist, but it's not clear what award Dizzy has won. Wilson gives him a plaque and says it's for being "one of the top trumpet men of all time." Clearly there is no award with that title! So in fact what did Gillespie win?

The 1951 Downbeat Readers Poll (the Critics' Poll was not yet invented), reported in the issue of December 28, lists the winner on Alto Saxophone as Charlie Parker, and on Trumpet, Maynard Ferguson, the new star from Canada. Gillespie is third on trumpet, as you can see in this portion of the poll results:

However researcher and author Chris DeVito pointed out to me that there’s a box on page 1 of the same issue with the heading: "Here's Our '51 All-Star Band." (We saw the 1950 all-star band here.) The top three finishers in the trumpet category—Ferguson, Miles Davis, and Gillespie—were considered winners in the All-Star Band category, so Gillespie was technically a "winner" even though he came in third in the number of votes. The article accompanying the box says: "Dizzy Gillespie won his first plaque, edging Louis Armstrong for third place in the trumpet division." Presumably, then, this was the award he was given on the TV show. Here is that page:

(Notice that this December 28th issue was stamped received on December 13 in the upper left. Then, as now, subscribers got their copies early. But that also helps to explain why Downbeat tended to run about a month behind with news, gig listings, and so on.)

(As you can see, this is a very interesting issue of Downbeat. The complete issue is at the bottom for Paying Subscribers, with my thanks.)

Then why does Wilson exaggerate the significance of the award by saying that it's for being one of the best trumpeters "of all time"? We'll get to that later.

Now, as far as the film of the TV appearance, the 1987 Parker documentary Celebrating Bird, directed by the well-known critic Gary Giddins along with Kendrick Simmons, and produced by Toby Byron, was the most accessible source for many years. Most, maybe all, of the copies of the film online are taken from that documentary. Unfortunately, that version—and all the Youtube clips taken from it—has several bad splices—as you can see in this excerpt:

Most likely these splices occurred when Chertok replayed the fragile original for repeated showings and to make backup copies of it. When film breaks, as many of you will remember, you have to physically tape it back together, and sometimes a few frames of film are lost in the process. As far as I can tell, there is today no surviving 16mm film of this TV performance without splices.

BUT I have good news for you! I have a VHS video transfer that was made before the film ever broke! It plays smoothly throughout. Next time we will watch that video, plus short beginning and ending segments, that together make up the best and most complete version of this incredibly important historical film.

All the best,
Lewis

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