PARKER, Charlie (1920-1955).

Printed menu card for New York jazz club the Royal Roost, 1948, signed and inscribed by Charlie Parker. The menu promoting ‘A ‘Boppy’ New Year’, inscribed on the back cover in blue ballpoint pen ‘Seasons Greetings, Charlie Parker’. Parker was resident at the Royal Roost throughout late December 1948 and January 1949, broadcasting in the early hours of the New Year. According to Parker scholar Lawrence O. Koch, the club’s jazz policy, ‘which began as a one-night-a-week experiment, blossomed into a regular six-night gig and triggered the move of jazz onto New York’s main drag. The club, which featured a low (ninety cents) admission charge, a peanut gallery for non-drinkers or adolescents, and a bop primer at every table, became a sensation; almost every name associated with the bop movement, including Gillespie’s big band, appeared on its bandstand.’ Koch, 151. Vail, Bird’s Diary, 48.

Single-fold menu card, 191 x 121 mm, printed in blue on white coated card stock.