Charlie Parker 1954 "Bird" Small Concert Poster at Open Door Nightclub, New York. ...

Description

Charlie Parker 1954 "Bird" Small Concert Poster at Open Door Nightclub, New York. A small but powerful cardboard window card advertising the great one, Charlie Parker aka Yardbird aka Bird, at the Open Door jazz club in New York City on Sunday night, June 27, 1954. The board was originally printed with "May 23" as the date, but this one was updated with stickers.

Bird is the saxophonist, of course, against which all others are measured. His impact was so great that Clint Eastwood made a major motion picture on his life in 1988 called Bird and starring Forest Whitaker in the title role. Sadly, Parker would pass away less than a year after this poster at the age of 34. Measures 9" x 12" and grades to Very Good condition. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: The first sticker laid down by promoter Reisner carried "June" and another number underneath. On this specimen, the "27" is yet another sticker on top of that. So what happened is obvious: Bird kept reappearing at the club, and Reisner kept re-using the poster by simply updating the date with stickers.

Bob Reisner presented the show and owned the nightclub. This item actually came from Mr. Reisner's estate years after he passed away in the early 70's. And it was via the old-fashioned way... his heirs simply cleaned out his files and took them to an established flea market in New York City, where the first few lucky patrons to stumble across them took home some real treasures, including original vinyl pressings and a few posters like this.

Condition details: One tack hole evenly spaced in each corner. Upper left corner has a three-inch diagonal corner crease which intersects the blue lines but doesn't break color. About four smaller creases on the inside of that bigger one. Upper right has a one-inch diagonal corner crease and a little flap of paper coming up on the edge. Bottom two corners have much smaller creasing than the top two. Surface creasing in the white on the right side of the little board. Notice the flaws to the blue ink, not considered damage, in the double blue line at the top, in the "C," "A" and "R" of "Charlie" and in the "R" of "Parker." General toning throughout.


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