In the first year of the quartet with Freeman, Chet was still performing well. His playing sometimes reached an amazing level. Russ Freeman: “He had a touch of genius. When he was in form, he played as well as the best musicians I’ve met—on the same level as Bird, Diz . . . whoever. I played with Charlie Parker once, in Howard McGhee’s band. I was just a beginner, but by luck I got the chance to play with him. So I know what it’s like to work alongside a genius. And Chet was on the same level. He could have the same emotional impact. He had an original approach. He was a thinking artist. His improvisations were not simply a bunch of licks, they were small compositions. Sometimes he was in such dazzling form that it embarrassed me. He blew a solo, and if I was to go next, I would think to myself, What is the point of playing another piano solo? He’s already said everything there is to say I could only do a pale repetition.
“In a theoretical sense, Chet was a total illiterate. He never knew what key he played in. He also had nothing to rely on if he happened to be having a bad day. I must admit that Chet was not in form on occasion, especially after he started with the drugs. He could already read a little music in the studio. The parts of course could not be too hard. I cannot remember that he ever wrote anything down in musical notation. That’s probably also the reason he never composed anything, so far as I know.” …Â