The masters of bebop reunited for a single unforgettable1953 concert at Canada’s Massey Hall. It was a uniqueexperience in many ways. Organized by a local club ofjazz fans and poorly publicized, the attendance was farbelow capacity (only 700 out of 2500 seats were filled).Another reason behind the low attendance had to dowith the scheduling of the concert on the same nightas a heavyweight championship boxing match (evenParker and Gillespie left the stage in mid-concert towatch the fight on television, leading to an extremelylong intermission). Getting the musicians to play wasn’teasy either. By that time Bud Powell was in New York’sBellevue Hospital, coping with one of his bouts ofmental illness. He was released by his manager andguardian, Birdland’s owner Oscar Goodstein. When themusicians arrived at the airport, they discovered thatthey weren’t provided with enough tickets (the organizershadn’t contemplated the fact that Mingus’ wife Celiaand Goodstein would have to travel with the group). Asa result, Parker and Gillespie stayed behind and waitedfor the following flight to Toronto. When the two leadersarrived in Canada, it was discovered that Bird didn’t havea saxophone, so a Grafton plastic alto was borrowed froma local music store! Despite the numerous obstacles, theconcert produced truly splendid music. The performancewas nonprofessionally recorded by Charles Mingushimself, who released it soon after on his own label Debut.Mingus, however, was dissatisfied with the way his basshad been recorded, so he overdubbed a new bass linethat went on the released sides. Unfortunately, the newline overshadowed the sound of the other instruments.This re-release presents all of the quintet tracks from theMassey Hall sets (a few trio tracks were also performed) intheir concert order and as originally recorded, without thedubbed bass line that Mingus would add later.

Charlie Parker, Alto Sax

Dizzy Gillespie, Trumpet

Bud Powell, Piano

Charles Mingus, Bass

Max Roach, Drums

Live At Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, May 15, 1953.

• 1. Perdido (Juan Tizol-Hans Lengsfelder-Ervin Drake) 8:16
• 2. Salt Peanuts (Dizzy Gillespie-Kenny Clarke) 7:37
• 3. All the Things You Are (Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Ii) 7:
• 4. 52nd Street Theme (Thelonious Monk) 0:42
• 5. Wee (Aka Allen's Alley) (Denzil Best) 6:47
• 6. Hot House (Tadd Dameron) 9:10
• 7. A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie-Frank Paparelli) 7:33