September 18, 1948: Ah-Leu-Cha

"It's just music. It's playing clean and looking for the pretty notes."
Charlie Parker

After his release from a six-month stay at the Camarillo Mental Institution in early 1947, Charlie Parker was in the best health he would ever be: not drinking so much and going on what he called a "health kick", that is, eating at regular hours and not doing anything stronger, for stimulants, than beer and benzedrine. Well, and heroin, of course.

But soon Bird was back in New York and he seemed stronger than ever. In fact, 1947 and 1948 mark what for many is the peak of his recording career. In 1947 he records quite a number of classics: "Klactoveedsedstene", "Chasin' the Bird", "Scrapple from the Apple"...

Then comes another recording ban by the American Federation of Musicians. And so for 10 months Parker does not record, instead playing regularly in clubs in NYC (specially the Royal Roost on Broadway) and elsewhere with a classic band that includes Miles Davis and Max Roach.
The Roost was an new type of jazz club. Its innovations included a 75-cent cover charge (the first one in the city) and a milk bar for the underage.

In this club Parker finds singer Babs Gonzales, who reportedly berates him for his heroin use, to which Bird allegedly replies: "Wait until everybody gets rich off your style and you don't have any bread, then lecture me about drugs."

But in September 1948 —clandestinely since the recording ban is still in effect—Parker finally records again after 10 months away from a studio, doing what will in fact be his 2 last sessions for Savoy, before going on to Verve and a modicum of final recognition and fame before his early death. It happens at Harry Smith Studios in NYC (2 West 46th Street in New York City), with Harry Smith as engineer. There was only one microphone.

The band is called the Charlie Parker All Stars. The session from September 18th, 1948 is absolutely mesmerizing. It includes only 4 songs, 3 of which are, to my ears, absolute masterpieces: "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Barbados" and, of course, "Parker's Mood", one of the key moments in jazz history.

We'll talk about Parker's Mood in the next entry. Let's focus for today on that wonderful song that is "Ah-Leu-Cha".

It is one of two songs in which Charlie Parker composes using counterpoint (which you can quickly distinguish as to melodies stacked on top of each other or playing against each other). Both are reworkings of George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" (if you reworked it and recorded it under a new name you would avoid paying royalties!). The other one is "Chasin' the Bird". The funny thing about Ah-Leu-Cha (apart from its name, which to me is a play on "Allellujah" but I have no source for this. Parker used to not name his tunes and let the engineers name them, unless they were playful titles such as this one, which would be his) is that it's a reworking not only of "I Got Rhythm" but also of "Honeysuckle Rose". Let's compare them:

Here's Ah-Leu-Cha, recorded by Charlie Parker (alto sax), Miles Davis (trumpet), John Lewis (piano), Curley Russell (bass) and Max Roach (drums), The Charlie Parker All Stars:

Here's a movie version of "Honeysuckle Rose" by its great composer, Mr. Fats Waller (with lyrics by his usual partner Andy Razaf):

And here's "I Got Rhythm":

And just for comparison's sake, here's "Chasin' the Bird": 

"Ah-Leu-Cha" has been recorded by many of the best. Miles Davis and John Coltrane do it a little too fast for my taste but it's a nice rendition (recorded on September 10, 1956):

But if that was fast, they did it even faster, to the point of nonsense, live in Newport (1958):

Here's drummer Roy Haynes (2001):

And here's a version by saxophonist Archie Shepp live in Germany in 1976, oddly and fascinatingly divested of the contrapuntal elements:

Here's trumpetist Art Farmer, in 1981:

And there's an interesting rendition on guitars by Ed Bickert and Lorne Lorfsky, I could post it here but I'd rather direct you to this excellent post by Mr. Steven Cerra:

http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2014/07/ed-bickert-and-lorne-lofsky-ah-leu-cha.html