Relaxin' at Camarillo

"Relaxin' at Camarillo" is a composition by jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. It is inspired by his six-month stay in Camarillo State Hospital in Ventura County, California after serving a prison term for arson and resisting arrest. The tune is a blues in C major and has become a jazz standard.

"Relaxin' at Camarillo" was inspired by Parker's term for a half a year, recovering in Camarillo State Hospital in Ventura County, California. He had been sent there to recuperate from drink and drug addiction after a term spent in jail from setting fire to his bed sheets, running naked through the hotel lobby and resisting arrest, incapacited. Camarillo was a mental hospital set in several Mission Revival buildings to the north of Los Angeles.

After release, Bird was able to record it along with three originals by trumpeter Howard McGhee: "Cheers", "Stupendous" and "Carvin the Bird". Parker recorded the tune with McGhee on trumpet, Dodo Marmarosa on piano, Wardell Gray on tenor, Barney Kessell on guitar, Red Callender on bass and Don Lamond on drums. The tune was originally recorded in C major, and has become a jazz standard.Ted Gioia, commenting in West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960, has referred to the original recording as a "sinuous blues", a 12-bar blues which is a "further testimony to the subtlety of Parker's rhythmic phrasing". He considers it to have been one of the finest recordings Parker made in California. Roy Porter and David Keller consider "Relaxin' at Camarillo" to be a "great bop classic".

Guitarist Joe Pass recorded it in 1964 for his album Joy Spring. Saxophonist Joe Henderson released an album of the same name, featuring the recording, in 1979. It was later recorded by pianist Cedar Walton. Jazz Journal International stated in 2009 that Walton "provides a stimulating introduction to Parker's Relaxin'At Camarillo. Cedar's solo here is one of his best on a disc that is chock full of glowing solos."

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