A rare small format concert poster advertising a November 21, 1954 show by ‘Bird’ Charlie Parker and His All Stars, at the Open Door Club in Greenwich Village, just four months before the jazz legend’s tragic death.

This was part of the legendary jazz collection of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (1941-2022), and sold at auction in 2023 by Christie’s, London.

The book Yardbird Suite notes ‘The Open Door [Sunday] sessions were frequented by many of Parker’s former sidemen, such as Bud Powell, Al Haig and Max Roach… the sessions were often fun battles of the Kansas City type, and Ira Gitler remembers a ‘musical goosing session’ between Brew Moore and Bird in which they ‘played at each others behinds and finished up playing to an old piece of chewing gum stuck on the floor.’ The book notes that by this time – just four months before Bird’s untimely death – Parker and club owner Robert Reisner ‘often had disagreements because of Bird’s perverse behavior. He would leave the club and never return for the end of the engagement, or fall asleep on the stand, or perhaps not even show up’.

This was sold as part of Lot 528 in the Christie’s auction Charlie Watts: Gentleman, Collector, Rolling Stone. In 1960, then graphic designer Watts wrote and illustrated a book in tribute to his hero Charlie Parker, Ode to a High Flying Bird.

Letterpress printed in black on white card stock, 7″ x 11″, framed to 12 3/4″ x 17 3/8″. In excellent condition, with the tiny pen annotation ‘1954’ after  ‘Nov. 21’.

An exceptional Charlie Parker collectible, with superb provenance.  With Recordmecca’s written lifetime guarantee, a copy of the Christie’s lot label, and our card noting this was part of the Charlie Watts Collection.