A couple of recent threads have been based around Charlie Parker tunes (specifically two blues compositions in F major, Blues For Alice and Billie's Bounce) and questions arose in one of those threads about the accuracy of existing transcriptions. I thought it might be a good moment to look at the history of CP transcriptions. Feel free to add any other important collections I may have overlooked. I'll attempt to look at some of the questions raised and offer some thoughts on how we might be view these sources in a later post.

Most early jazz solo transcriptions were done by ear with musicians often sitting by a radio to lift whatever they could manage to pick up. There are stories of whole groups doing this if they knew a particular tune was going to be played ahead of time. Once records became freely available, the process became more reliable as it was now possible to lift a stylus and repeat particularly difficult phrases. With the advent of LPs and turntables with 16RPM settings, it was even possible to slow down passages to half speed. Unfortunately being pre-digital, the pitches were also transposed down an octave and this could make lower notes often hard to hear accurately.

Although the occasional Parker transcription appeared in magazines and books during the '50s and '60s, it wasn't until the early '70s that scholarship on this hugely important musician really hit its stride. The most notable document of the period was Thomas Owens' PHD, Charlie Parker: Techniques of Improvisation (1974). There are a few transcriptions in his dissertation but more importantly, Owens digs deeply and thoroughly catalogues Bird's use of melodic figures, many of which he reserved for particular keys:

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The next major work was Charlie Parker Omnibook from 1978. Although the Omnibook is usually credited to Jamey Aebersold, all but one of the transcriptions is by trumpeter Ken Slone. He worked under pressure to get all the transcriptions finished and has admitted that the last ten were particularly rushed (he refused to name which ones were on that list). Like the original Real Book from the '70s, it's an incredible historical document despite the inaccuracies. As these were among the only widely available sources of jazz transcriptions at the time, many of these inaccuracies have been passed on. More on that topic later...

A little known but generally much more accurate collection of Charlie Parker transcriptions (heads only, no solos) from the following year is Charlie Parker Tune Book (1979) by trombonist Fred Parcells:

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Parcells acknowledges the Omnibook but takes things to another level. For instance, he not only corrects a number of obvious errors but also adds counter lines where appropriate. One important instance is the opening of Billie's Bounce (speaking of accuracy, the real title should be Bill's Bounce or Billy's Bounce not Billie's Bounce as it was named after Dizzy Gillespie's agent, Billy Shaw):

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Very few transcribers listen closely what's actually played in the original recording, particularly the Eb in bar 2. Even fewer, including Parcells have noticed that the second note in bar 1 is a G not a G#/Ab. This supports Christian's comments about the often diatonic nature of Bird's lines and harmonies (major rather than dominant 7th in the opening bar of a blues). We expect to hear the chromatic b3 as it's a blues cliche. Once again, I hope to expand upon the implications of transcription regarding this tune in a later post.

A more recent collection is Mark Voelpel's Charlie Parker For Guitar (2001). It's an excellent folio of transcriptions and a highly reliable resource:

Charlie Parker for Guitar - Note-for-Note Transcriptions and Detailed Performance Notes for 18 Bebop Classics Guitar Educational (672387) by Hal Leonard

An important release to celebrate Parker's centenary is Charlie Parker, Composer by Henry Martin (2020). Loads of research here and access to original handwritten manuscripts. Only a small number of these are actually in Parker's hand and they include coincidentally the trumpet part for Blues For Alice and a concert lead sheet for Billie's Bounce:

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I haven't yet checked out Charlie Parker: Complete Scores (2020)but judging by the available examples, the generic nature of the comping parts (slash chords for the piano) makes me think that the level of detail isn't anywhere near some of the sources I've mentioned:

Charlie Parker – The Complete Scores (Sheet Music) Transcribed Score (304599) by Hal Leonard

Another one I hope to dive into soon is Charlie Parker's 60 Melodies and Solos, an updated version of the Omnibook by Michael van Bebber:

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Two more general books that are worth checking out for anyone interested in an overview of Bird's music are Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker (1988) by Lawrence O. Koch and Charlie Parker: His Music and Life (1996).