Small format concert poster for Charlie Parker headlining Great Moderns in Jazz at Town Hall, New York, on Saturday 30 October 1954
Lot 192

Small format concert poster for Charlie Parker headlining Great Moderns in Jazz at Town Hall, New York, on Saturday 30 October 1954

Charlie Parker

Closed28 September 2023

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GBP 5,040

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Small format concert poster for Charlie Parker headlining Great Moderns in Jazz at Town Hall, New York, on Saturday 30 October 1954
Charlie Parker
PARKER, Charlie (1920-1955).

Small format concert poster for Charlie Parker headlining Great Moderns in Jazz at Town Hall, New York, on Saturday 30 October 1954.

Despite the stellar line-up, which included Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Art Farmer, Horace Silver, Jimmy Raney, and Hall Overton, and the promotional pitch of a 'fabulous history making musical event', this Bob Reisner-organised concert was, according to Ken Vail, 'poorly publicised and poorly attended' and, to top things off, 'a share of Charlie's earnings [were] impounded by a union patrolman' during the intermission. According to Ira Gitler, who was present at the concert, 'Bird played brilliantly that night. All in the audience were extremely regretful when the stagehands rang the curtain down as he was still blowing. The evening had started behind schedule, and union regulations do not sit still for spontaneous art.' Gitler, cited in Priestly, 102. Vail, Bird's Diary, 166. Printed in black on light card stock, 355 x 215 mm. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl. 13).

[With:] WATTS, Charlie (1941-2021). Ode to a Highflying Bird. London: Beat Publications Ltd, [1965]. First edition, first impression. Small octavo. Illustrations in colour throughout by the author. Price label of ‘Seven Shillings’ tipped to front free endpaper. Original white boards, titles to covers in black, portrait of the author to rear cover. (See note, lot 171.)