Cool Blues, recorded February 1, 1947, is a medium-tempo blues in C by the Charlie Parker Quartet featuring Parker's two-chorus alto saxophone solo at approximately 164 BPM over a 12-bar blues form. Erroll Garner contributes two choruses of piano, and Red Callender takes two choruses of acoustic bass. The tune is a Parker original and became a staple of his live repertoire. The quartet setting from these post-Camarillo Dial sessions pairs Parker with Garner's distinctive pianistic approach, which favored lush chords and a behind-the-beat rhythmic feel quite different from the more linear bebop pianists Parker usually employed. Parker's solo is a model of blues expression filtered through bebop sophistication, balancing bluesy inflections with his characteristically advanced harmonic thinking. The relaxed medium tempo allows each musician space to develop ideas, and Callender's two-chorus bass solo provides an unusually prominent role for the instrument. Cool Blues became one of Parker's more accessible recordings and endures as an example of his deep connection to the blues tradition.
