Charlie Parker - Don’t Blame Me, November 4th, 1947

On Tuesday, November 4th, 1947, Charlie Parker (Bird) returned to WOR Studios in New York City, along with Miles Davis (trumpet), Duke Jordan (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), and Max Roach (drums), to record again for Dial Records, the label owned and operated by Ross Russell. History seemed to be repeating itself on a weekly basis: they had recorded there exactly seven days before, on Tuesday, October 28th. It’s unusual to find two recording sessions so close in proximity, and this raises interesting questions.
To a large extent, Bird only composed when recording sessions demanded it. He often wrote out new tunes in the studio, or, if he was planning ahead, in the taxicab on his way there. But it’s impossible to know how long he might have been assembling any given composition in his mind.
Don’t Blame Me is almost entirely Bird’s own invention, with occasional glances at the melody, and is fully worthy of being singled out. Don’t Blame Me wasn’t part of the quintet’s usual repertoire, although Bird and Duke Jordan agree on the changes to an uncanny degree. We’ll never know why Bird chose a ballad that seems to have held no special meaning for him, but he transforms it into beauty of the highest order, making any other choice unimaginable.
Bird Lives paints a sensationalized portrait of an ugly man who created great beauty, and much of what Russell relates is undeniably true. It’s tempting to accept this evidence and come to the same conclusion. Russell’s Bird was a mentally unstable, drug addicted, pleasure seeking con man whose heedlessness and egomania caused him to exploit and abuse everyone around him. Every so often, I wonder why I’m so certain this can’t be true. Then I listen to Don’t Blame Me.

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Fantastic Bird ---cleaning the changes on this melodic classic... and on what appears to be a late 1930's Selmer Alto.