Who does not love a bit of Bebop? I know I do and one of the first Bebop records was Ko Ko by Charlie Parker.
Bebop grew out of a desire to break away from the swing and dance bands popular at the time. The young (early 20s) Charlie Parker’s experimentations allowed his to improvise over a melody with out being tied to its structure. From 1942 to 1944, the time that Bebop was taking off, there was a musician’s strike that stopped them working for record companies. In 1945 Parker and his band recorded Ko Ko. Miles Davis, then 19, was the band’s trumpet player but it is thought that Dizzy Gillespie played on the recording as Davis struggled with the piece although he is included on this broadcast version…