Ko-Ko

Ko-Ko was written by Charlie Parker over the chord changes of Ray Noble's Cherokee, published in 1938 as the first of the five movements of Noble's Indian Suite. It was recorded on November 26, 1945 at WOR Studios in New York for Savoy and is widely described as Parker's first recording as a leader. It is not called Cherokee because Parker meant to record Cherokee but Savoy's Teddy Reig did not want to pay royalties on Noble's melody, so the band played the changes with a new improvised head. On the first take, the band started the Cherokee melody and Reig stopped them; the second take was released. Phil Schaap, quoted by NPR, said they play the same arrangement and then jump into the melody of Cherokee, and Teddy would call hold it.

The form, per Wikipedia, is a 32-bar introduction, two 64-bar Parker solo choruses at about 300 beats per minute, a 32-bar Max Roach drum solo and a 28-bar coda. Parker's own words on the technique were that the higher intervals of a chord could serve as a melody line over related changes.

Who played

The personnel is disputed. Parker, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums are certain. Dizzy Gillespie is credited on trumpet, piano, or both. Miles Davis is credited on trumpet by some, though he says in his autobiography that he declined the tune because at 19 he struggled with the Cherokee changes. Sadik Hakim, then Argonne Thornton, is also reported to have been present. Bud Powell was absent, which is why Gillespie covered the piano, and Gillespie confirmed in a 1986 interview that he played trumpet. Alan Kurtz, writing for the jazz.com encyclopedia, has Gillespie playing only the head, with a cup mute, before moving to piano for Parker's solo, which should be read as one author's account.

Ko-Ko was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, in 2002 by Wikipedia's account. Wikipedia considers it, with Gillespie's Shaw 'Nuff, the first recorded bebop, and it distinguishes it from Duke Ellington's unrelated 1940 Ko-Ko. The title as uploaded on hypersongs does not say whether it is the released second take or another version.