Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 1
Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 2
Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 3
Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 4
Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 5
Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 6
Charlie Parker with Strings - photo 7

Charlie Parker with Strings

Lot 519
29.09.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 1 260
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1029170
Lot 519 | Charlie Parker with Strings
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
PARKER, Charles “Charlie,” Jr. (1920-1955). Charlie Parker with Strings. Mercury Records, three-sleeve album, 1950.

Illustrated with pencil sketches on the outside boards of the album cover sleeve, the inside of the lower board, and all three integral sleeves, attributed to Charlie Parker, the sketches parodying the original cover design, depicting musicians, saxophones and other sketchier motifs, the inside of the lower board annotated with an intriguing incomplete sentence in Parker’s hand ‘The sky became an inferno and the heat was to [sic] intense there was…’ alongside an unfinished sketch of a kneeling, pinioned figure.

According to Rick Alper, the album was purchased among the effects of trumpeter Vernon “Geechie” Smith. When he was looking through the record collection, Alper asked Geechie’s widow whether the drawings on the cover were by her husband, to which Mrs. Smith replied ‘no… he did… Him, the guy on the cover’. She went on to explain that Charlie Parker and her husband were good friends, and that parker would come over to their home and hang out. One day, Parker brought over this album and complained that he didn’t like the picture on the cover. She remembered Parker as always acting nervous and fidgety and that on this occasion he started drawing on the album cover to mimic the David Stone Martin artwork. Oklahoma born Smith was for many years a stalwart of the Kansas City scene, before moving to LA in the early 1940s where he joined Joe Lutcher’s band. In 1947, his own group was hired as the house band at The Cricket Club on Washington Boulevard, which was to become a key foothold for the bebop invasion of the West Coast. Drummer and Parker sideman Roy Porter remembers: ‘Smith became manager and entertainment director. Prior to this Blacks were not welcome. Smith was responsible for integrating the club. He hired Dizzy, and during Diz’s two-week stint all of the Hollywood movie stars like Ava Gardner, who liked the new thing in music, regularly came by. When I came back to LA from back East in June of 1948, I stopped by for a jam session on a Sunday afternoon and the place was jumping’. Porter, 64.

Recorded with a small string orchestra and rhythm section for Norman Granz’ labels between 1947 and 1952, Parker’s two With Strings albums were the realisation of a long-held desire to record with strings and his best-selling records during his lifetime. ‘Charlie excitedly embraced the project,’ notes biographer Chuck Haddix, ‘feeling that recording with strings legitimized his music’. Haddix, 125.

Three 10-inch shellac discs (one original, the other two replaced by records by Vernon “Geechie” Smith), in three-sleeve album with cover design by David Stone Martin; accompanied by two letters of provenance from Rick Alper of Atomic Records and Norman Saks. Provenance: Vernon “Geechie” Smith – Rick Alper (Atomic Records) – The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl.57).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
20.09.2023 13:00 – 17:00
21.09.2023 09:00 – 17:00
22.09.2023 09:00 – 17:00
23.09.2023 12:00 – 17:00
24.09.2023 12:00 – 17:00
25.09.2023 09:00 – 17:00
26.09.2023 09:00 – 17:00
27.09.2023 09:00 – 17:00
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

More from Creator

An archive of eleven rare 78 rpm Savoy Records test pressings, including Charlie Parker’s landmark first studio recordings as leader, from the collection of legendary Savoy producer Teddy Reig, 1944-46
An archive of eleven rare 78 rpm Savoy Records test pressings, including Charlie Parker’s landmark first studio recordings as leader, from the collection of legendary Savoy producer Teddy Reig, 1944-46
£6 000
Document signed
Document signed
£1 200
An instrument case, personally owned and used by Charlie “Bird” Parker, dating from his trip to Sweden in November 1950
An instrument case, personally owned and used by Charlie “Bird” Parker, dating from his trip to Sweden in November 1950
£3 000
Three autograph notes from Charlie Parker to his common-law wife Chan Parker, early 1950s
Three autograph notes from Charlie Parker to his common-law wife Chan Parker, early 1950s
£1 500
Part-printed document signed in black ink 'Charlie Parker', 19 May 1954
Part-printed document signed in black ink 'Charlie Parker', 19 May 1954
£1 500
Promotional mailer signed
Promotional mailer signed
£1 200
A collection of 23 original 12-inch acetates of airshots, including 17 of Charlie Parker, from the archive of the legendary amateur recordist Boris Rose, 1948-53
A collection of 23 original 12-inch acetates of airshots, including 17 of Charlie Parker, from the archive of the legendary amateur recordist Boris Rose, 1948-53
£8 000
Two concert handbills
Two concert handbills
£100

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>