Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins on "Compulsion"

The cover art is rather striking as well
In August, I posted a transcription of Charlie Parker's solo on "Cheryl," from a live recording of unknown origin. I had gotten this recording in middle school from a friend of mine: the record was called "Early Bird," and didn't have too much information except that these tracks were from earlier on in Bird's career. When I tried transcribing the solo, I realized that the recording was pitched down a half step from C to B, which suggested that the recording had been slowed down somehow, although the quality of the recording was not noticeably distorted. Michael Griffin left this helpful tip on a previous post:
"This was recorded at carnegie hall in 1949.As part of a christmas concert featuring Bud Powell's group, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker's quintet featuring Red Rodney on Trumpet."
A bit of Internet searching seems to corroborate this statement, although it appears that the recording isn't available on iTunes, or widely available on CD elsewhere. There are other sources, of course, and what's even more amazing is the line-up on this concert:

-Sarah Vaughan
-Bud Powell
-Kai Winding/Stan Getz
-Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh with Lennie Tristano
-Miles Davis

In light of this Charlie Parker discovery, I thought I share two transcriptions: Charlie Parker's solo on "Compulsion," an original from a 1953 Miles Davis recording session called Collectors' Items that features Bird on tenor, as well as Sonny Rollins's solo from the same track. Walter Bishop (pn), Tommy Potter (bs), and Art Blakey (dr) make up the rhythm section. It's enlightening to hear the two bebop greats, generally considered to be of two separate generations, play side by side; I've heard people describe Sonny as coming closest to Bird's conception of rhythm and phrasing on tenor, but it really is a matter of approach rather than imitating the same sets of rhythmic groupings. They have two distinct approaches that both demonstrate freedom to work within the language of bebop, but it's clear that Sonny is learning from Bird in the most fundamental way to create his own approach, rather than superficially employing the same kinds of rhythmic phrases.

Here's Bird's solo:



And here's Sonny's:


This session might even be compared to Sonny Side Up: Miles situated between Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, instead of Dizzy situated between Stitt and Sonny Rollins. 

* * * * *
[ed. September 7, 2016] Sonny mentions another nonmusical but immensely important side effect of playing with his idol in this Pitchfork interview from earlier this year:
I was recording with my hero Charlie Parker. A lot of guys used drugs because of him, and he knew it. That really messed him up. He said, “Yeah Sonny, how are you doing?” And I said, “I’m straight.” And he was so happy, man. And then somebody in the record session ratted on me and told him. I could see the look in Bird’s face and boy that tore me down. I realized I had to get off this shit, man, if just for my idol. So I went to Lexington and stayed there for the cure, which was four and a half months, and that was it—I was able to get off. 

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