Now's the Time is a Charlie Parker composition that was first recorded on November 26, 1945 by Parker's Reboppers with Miles Davis on trumpet and piano by Dizzy Gillespie or Sadik Hakim, with Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. It is a riff based blues tune in a bebop style that reflects Parker's Kansas City roots, featuring bluesy phrasing and typical bebop endings at bars 5 and 6. The fourth take became the official release and Parker's solo on the third take is often praised for its bold confidence. The melody later influenced The Hucklebuck by Paul Williams, though Parker was not credited on that hit. Now's the Time appears on the 1956 Verve album Now's the Time: the Quartet of Charlie Parker, also released as The Genius of Charlie Parker, Vol. 3, which was recorded in 1952–1953 and issued posthumously in the bebop genre.
