Ezz-Thetic

The "Charlie Parker with Strings" album arranged by Jimmy Carroll was so successful that a touring ensemble was put together for concerts. Examination of the arrangements in the Charlie Parker with Strings book revealed that Parker not only had settings of classic songs that were never recorded, but also he had asked Gerry Mulligan and George Russell to arrange their recent (ca. 1950) compositions for him. Mulligan's version of Rocker is well known as a live recording has long been available. A private recording from 1952 has Bird roaring on another Mulligan composition that was previously unknown as a Bird with Strings arrangement, Gold Rush. Even more interesting is that George Russell arranged Ezz-Thetic for the group. There are no live performances documented, and until the discovery of the string book, it was not known that Russell even wrote this version for Bird. Any previously unknown piece of music by this composer, especially from this era, is a major discovery.