Nanopublication — A Tribute to Charlie Parker and the 1952 Jam Session

Context

The Norman Granz Jam Session of July 1952 brought together an extraordinary ensemble in Los Angeles: Charlie Parker on alto saxophone alongside Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter, tenor saxophonists Ben Webster and Flip Phillips, trumpeter Charlie Shavers, and a rhythm section of Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and J.C. Heard on drums. Originally released as two 10-inch Clef LPs (Norman Granz' Jam Session #1 and #2), the session captures the spontaneity and fire of a late-night jam — musicians of the highest caliber pushing each other through blues forms and standards with unscripted energy.

"Jam Blues," the opening track, is a collectively created blues performance credited to the fictitious composer "Norman Shrdlu" — a pseudonym Granz regularly used for group improvisations. The track runs over thirteen minutes of pure blues playing, each soloist taking the form and making it their own. Parker's playing on this session was exceptional, even as he was struggling personally with addiction and its consequences. The session represents one of Parker's only recorded encounters with several of these musicians, making it a singular document in jazz history.

My painting responds to this recording not as analysis but as admiration. I listen, and the listening becomes a visual impulse — a desire to make something that honors what I hear. The title preserves the specificity of the source: this is not a generic jazz tribute but a response to a particular session, a particular track, a particular moment in Bird's career.