Victor Coulsen Victor Coulsen Victor "Vic" Coulsen (dates unknown) was an American jazz trumpeter. Often referred to as Vic Coulsen, Vic Coulson, and even Vic Couslen, Coulsen was a member of the resident band at the Monroe's club, under Al Tinney's direction from as early as 1940. Coulsen has often been remembered has having had a seminal influence on the phrasing of early bebop by the likes of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and several others - Charlie Parker among them. Parker remembers Coulsen (here spelled "Coulson") ""playing things I'd never heard before"", and states that the music he heard on
Charlie Parker November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever." Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, Parker enlisted such sidemen as Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko", "Billie's Bounce" and "Now's the Time". In 1952 Parker and Gillespie released an album entitled "Bird and Diz". Shortly afterward, the Parker/Gillespie band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California,