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Clef · 1955

Charlie Parker with Strings

Charlie Parker

Recorded: November 30, 1949 & July 5, 1950   Original cat#: MG C-675
Charlie Parker — Charlie Parker with Strings album cover

Charlie Parker's string-backed sessions for producer Norman Granz were recorded in two parts: November 30, 1949, at a Mercury studio in New York, yielding the first 10" "Charlie Parker with Strings" (six tracks); and July 5, 1950, yielding a second 10" volume (eight tracks). Both sessions were arranged and conducted by Jimmy Carroll and Joe Lipman, with Mitch Miller on oboe, Ray Brown on bass, and Buddy Rich on drums, setting Parker against a small classical string section rather than his usual bebop rhythm section.

This title's reissue history is unusually complicated compared to the rest of this site's catalog. Catalog numbers conflict even across normally reliable sources, and not every discrepancy could be resolved with confidence. Rather than force a clean answer where the underlying research doesn't support one, this guide is more conservative than usual: the tier table below is intentionally thin, containing only the one pressing verified with real confidence, and the prose spends more time explaining what remains unresolved than most guides on this site need to.

Best early pressing for audiophiles: the 1955 Clef MG C-675 12" LP is the historically definitive vinyl document of the consolidated 14-track program – see the catalog-confusion note below before chasing an original 10" pressing instead.

Best modern pressing for audiophiles: not confirmed in this pass – see below.

Best-value modern: "The Verve Years (1950–51)," a mid-1970s chronological Verve compilation – see below for what it actually contains before assuming it's a direct substitute for MG C-675.

Recording history and tape provenance

Parker had reportedly wanted to record in this kind of setting for years – Granz finally gave him the chance, and the results, unusually for the era, became Parker's best-selling recordings during his lifetime, well ahead of anything he cut with a conventional quintet. The Grammy Hall of Fame recognized the sessions in 1988. The two 10" volumes were consolidated into a single 12" LP in 1955 on Granz's Clef label as "Charlie Parker with Strings," catalog MG C-675 – the first time both sessions appeared together as one coherent album rather than two separate 10" releases. That consolidation is the closest thing to a canonical, single-album version of these recordings, though even that apparent simplicity conceals a genuinely tangled catalog history underneath it.

Sources disagree on the exact sequence of early Mercury/Clef catalog numbers for the first 10" volume, and the disagreement isn't a minor footnote – it's between two otherwise reliable references describing the same object in opposite order. Wikipedia states the first 10" was "released on 10\" as Mercury MG-35010, reissued as MG C-501 and then MG C-101." A specialist Mercury-label discography site states the opposite sequence: MG-35010 first, reissued as MG C-101, and only later reissued as MG C-501. Neither account could be confirmed as correct with confidence, so both are noted here rather than picking one arbitrarily to make the guide look more finished than the research actually supports.

No specific, well-sourced modern audiophile vinyl reissue of the consolidated 14-track program with a named mastering engineer and verified catalog number could be independently confirmed either. Several leads turned up but none held up to the specificity bar this project holds itself to. A widely-circulated "stereo, 180 gram, remastered" pressing reuses the same MG C-675 catalog number, which is odd on its face since the 1955 recordings predate stereo entirely – this must be some later reissue, but its year, label, and mastering credit couldn't be confirmed. A limited-edition blue vinyl DMM reissue catalogued 840110 turned up in Discogs owner reviews but nowhere else independently verifiable. And an Analogue Productions interview about their 25-album Verve reissue series describes a documented channel-reversal error corrected on "this title" – but the interview covers 25 different albums, and there's no certainty the specific quote refers to Charlie Parker with Strings rather than a different title in the same series. That's a lead worth chasing in a follow-up pass, not a fact to print here.

One genuine, verifiable alternative did turn up: in the mid-1970s, Verve issued a three-part chronological series covering Parker's complete Verve-era master takes across three 2LP sets. The middle set, "The Verve Years (1950–51)" (catalog VE-2-2512, per jazzdisco.org's Verve reissue catalog and independently confirmed via Dusty Groove and an Internet Archive listing), focuses mostly on the string sessions, but mixes them in alongside unrelated quintet material with Miles Davis and a separate pairing with Coleman Hawkins. It's a real, findable, and typically affordable way to own most of these recordings on vinyl, but it's a fundamentally different compilation approach from MG C-675 – a chronological career survey rather than a dedicated "with strings" program – so don't expect the same listening experience.

Buyer's guide by budget

Given the sourcing gaps documented above, this guide isn't presenting confident dollar-sign price tiers for every option the way most guides on this site do. The 1955 Clef MG C-675 is the reasonable starting point for anyone who specifically wants the original vinyl document of these sessions and nothing else mixed in. "The Verve Years (1950–51)" is a real, typically affordable alternative if MG C-675 proves hard to source, so long as you're comfortable with unrelated material sharing the same LPs. Beyond those two, treat any specific reissue claim you encounter for this title with the same skepticism applied throughout this guide, and consider a follow-up research pass – ideally with the site's YouTube collector-review protocol fully in scope – before trusting a confident-sounding pressing recommendation from elsewhere.

Pressing tier summary

Tier ⇅ Pressing Cat# Year ⇅ Format Source / Mastering Notes Market ⇅
A Clef 12" LP, consolidating both 10" volumes MG C-675 1955 Mono, 33⅓ Clef lacquer Historically definitive vinyl document of the 14-track program; no standalone Discogs release ID confirmed –
B The Verve Years (1950–51), 2LP chronological set VE-2-2512 Mid-1970s Stereo, 33⅓, 2LP gatefold Verve lacquer Compiles the string sessions alongside unrelated Miles Davis quintet and Coleman Hawkins material, not a dedicated "with strings" program –

References

Related guides: Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings · Bird and Diz

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