Embraceable You
Parker's slow, one-chorus reading of the Gershwin ballad from the Dial session of October 28, 1947.
Charlie Parker, from The Dial session of October 28, 1947 (1947)
- Written by
- George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
- Released
- 1947
- Album
- The Dial session of October 28, 1947
Embraceable You was written by George Gershwin, with words by Ira Gershwin, in 1928 for an unpublished operetta, East Is West, published in 1930 by Harms and used in the 1930 Broadway musical Girl Crazy, where Ginger Rogers sang it. Parker's version was recorded on October 28, 1947 at WOR Studio in New York for Dial, with Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter and Max Roach. Two takes were made, and the upload on hypersongs is titled Take A. Their lengths are 3:49 and 3:26 by Wikipedia, 3:52 and 3:29 by MusicBrainz. Which is the famous one is unresolved; a Jazzwise review says only that the master take in the Dial box is not the more celebrated take 1.
The Jazzomat database analyzes one 32-bar chorus in F major at a mean tempo of 72.3 beats per minute, the solo lasting 107.9 seconds, though its entry does not say which take. Parker's Meandering, recorded on November 26, 1945, and Quasimodo, from Dial in 1947, are built on the Embraceable You changes. Other notable versions include Nat King Cole in 1943, Billie Holiday in 1944, which is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, Chet Baker in 1957, Ella Fitzgerald in 1959 and Ornette Coleman in 1961.
More songs by Charlie Parker
Where to go next
Reference
- Embraceable You The song's history and notable versions.
Discography and data
- Charlie Parker on Dial Both takes in the Dial box set.
More
- Jazzomat: Parker's Embraceable You solo An analysis of the solo.
Sources
- Embraceable You, Wikipedia
- Charlie Parker on Dial, Wikipedia
- Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial sessions, Wikipedia
- Solo analysis: Embraceable You, Jazzomat Research Project