Ko-Ko

"Ko-Ko" is a 1945 bebop recording composed by Charlie Parker. The original recorded version features Parker on alto saxophone with trumpeter Miles Davis, double bassist Curley Russell and drummer Max Roach. Due to the absence of Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie was enlisted to play piano, instead of his usual trumpet. Pianist Sadik Hakim, then known as Argonne Thornton, was also known to be present at the session. Rumors persist to this day about precisely who played trumpet and piano on this piece; some claim Gillespie plays trumpet and, or instead of, piano; some claim Hakim is the pianist on all or part of one or both of the takes.

The piece starts in the key of B flat minor. It is based upon the chord changes of the song "Cherokee" by Ray Noble.

A recording ban, imposed by the American Federation of Musicians from 1942-1944, prevented musicians in the nascent bebop movement from recording new works during the crucial formative period of this emerging genre. As a result, the "Ko-Ko" session, along with the "Shaw 'Nuff" session led by Dizzy Gillespie earlier in the year, is considered by many to be the very first time Bebop was ever recorded.

Charlie Parker said that while playing Ray Noble's tune "Cherokee", "I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing." He had played that piece so many times that by the end he hated it, but he had mastered the chords perfectly in all 12 keys. "Ko-Ko" has a partially improvised head and the chords are based on "Cherokee".

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