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Charlie Parker, 1949.

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(born Aug. 29, 1920, Kansas City, Kan., U.S.died March 12, 1955, New York,N.Y.) U.S. saxophonist and composer. He played with Jay McShann's big band(194042) and those of Earl Hines (194244) and Billy Eckstine (1944) beforeleading his own small groups in New York City. (A nickname acquired in the early1940s, Yardbird, was shortened to Bird and used throughout his career.) Parkerfrequently worked with Dizzy Gillespie in the mid-1940s, making a series ofsmall-group recordings that heralded the arrival of bebop as a mature outgrowthof the improvisation of the late swing era. His direct, cutting tone andunprecedented dexterity on the alto saxophone made rapid tempos and fastflurries of notes trademarks of bebop, and his complex, subtle harmonicunderstanding brought an altogether new sound to the music. Easily the mostinfluential jazz musician of his generation, Parker suffered chronic drug addiction,and his early death contributed to making him a tragic legend.

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(b Kansas City, 29 Aug 1920; d New York, 12 March 1955). American jazz alto saxophonist. In 1942 he joined EarlHines's band and in 1944 Billy Eckstine's. In New York he first led his own group, with Dizzy Gillespie. In Los Angeles, hehad a nervous breakdown, exacerbated by addictions. Back in New York from 1947, he formed a quintet which recordedmany of his most famous pieces. He toured Europe and had a large following, but drugs forced him into a moreperipatetic life and sporadic employment. A virtuoso with distinctive tone and thorough control, he was a brilliantimproviser. His line combined drive and a complex organization of pitch and rhythm; he used pitches outside theharmony, with a variety of melodic devices, but his best work retained a clear, coherent line.

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Charles Christopher Parker, Jr. (1920-1955), American musician, was one of the most widely influentialsoloists in jazz history.

Charlie Parker, widely known as Yardbird or Bird, was born in Kansas City, Kans., on Aug. 29, 1920. His mother boughthim an alto saxophone in 1931, and in the following years he played with several prominent local big bands. In 1941 hebecame a member of Jay McShann's band, with which he made his first commercial recordings.

At this time Parker met Dizzy Gillespie, widely accepted as the cofounder with Parker of the jazz style that became knownas bop or bebop. In 1945 they recorded the definitive titles in the new idiom. Although younger musicians quicklyrealized his genius, Parker met with considerable hostility from musicians of earlier stylistic persuasions. In 1946, as aresult, he suffered a mental breakdown and was committed for 6 months to a sanitarium. Upon his release he formed hisown quintet and worked with this format for several years, mainly in the New York City area. He also toured with NormanGranz's "Jazz at the Philharmonic" and made trips to Paris in 1949 and Scandinavia in 1950. From his teen-age yearsParker had been a narcotics addict, and in the last 5 years of his life he worked irregularly as a result of physical andmental illness. On March 4, 1955, he made his final public appearance; he died 8 days later.

Parker's earliest records reveal that he was already developing the more complex harmonic approach that wascharacteristic of his mature work. This style is notable for a then unheard-of variety of rhythmic accentuation, harmoniccomplexity allied to an acute melodic sensitivity, solo lines that employ a wider range of intervals than had previouslybeen the norm, and a disregard for the four-and eight-bar divisions of the standard jazz repertoire. This approach and hisstrident, even harsh, tone made it difficult for the casual listener to follow the logic of his choruses. Also, with majorchanges taking place in the rhythm section, it was not altogether surprising that his music sometimes met withopposition or downright incomprehension. Another facet of Parker's playing was its extraordinary technical facility,enabling him to express his ideas with the greatest clarity even at the most rapid tempos.

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Parker composed a number of tunes that became jazz standards, though these were usually casually assembled itemsbased on chord sequences of popular tunes. In terms of melodic skill, his recordings of ballads such as "EmbraceableYou" and "How Deep Is the Ocean" are even more revealing than his interpretations of the bebop repertoire. He spawneddozens of imitators, but his own achievements were unique.

Further Reading

Robert George Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1962), contains a great deal of material on Parker by hisfellow musicians and friends, some of it more colorful than enlightening. A critical study that offers many valuableinsights into Parker's music is Max Harrison, Charlie Parker (1960). See also Marvin Barrett, The Jazz Age (1959), andAlbert McCarthy, Jazz on Record: A Critical Guide to the First Fifty Years, 1917-1967 (1968).

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jazz musician; saxophonist; composer

Personal Information

Born Charles Christopher Parker, August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Missouri; son of Charles Parker (traveling entertainerand Pullman chef) and Addie (domestic); married Rebecca Ruffin July 25, 1936; children Francis Leon; GeraldineMarguerite Scott (dancer) April 10, 1943; Doris Snydor (hat check girl); Chan Richardson (model and dancer) July 1950;children Pree and Baird, also adopted Richardson's daughter Kim. Died March 12, 1955 in New York City. EXCEPTION:March 12, 1955 in New York City.

Career

Left school to play music at sixteen; mid 1930s played in Kansas City bands; 1937 with Buster "Prof" Smith; with JayMcShann orchestra 1940-1942; performed with Earl Hines 1942-1943; joined Billy Eckstine big band 1944; 1945 madefirst solo recordings in a quintet with Dizzy Gillespie; performed in California 1945-1947; first performed with NormanGranz's Jazz at the Philharmonic series; recorded for Dial label 1945-1948; returned to New York in April 1947; recordedfor Savoy label 1948; signed with Norman Granz's Mercury label 1948 and subsequently with recorded with Granz'sVerve label; played the Paris International Jazz Festival, May 1949; recorded with strings 1949-1952; visited Scandinavia1950; performed with various sidemen 1950-1955.

Life's Work

When alto-saxophonist Charlie Parker made his first significant solo recordings with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in 1945, hismusic had a tremendous impact on a new generation of jazz musicians. In cities across the country, jazz instrumentalistssought to play in the Parker-style. Known to fellow musicians as Yardbird, Yard, or Bird, Parker expanded the musicalhorizons of jazz and influenced various instrumentalists with his unique phrasing and harmonic conception. Parker drewmuch of his inspiration from the blues, swing jazz standards, popular song forms, Afro-Cuban music, and modernEuropean symphonic music. While Parker's blues-based compositions elevated the form to a new creative level, his deepinterest in the modern symphonic works of composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok inspired countless otherjazzmen to study classical music. An avant-gardist of the bebop subculture, Parker's heroin addiction elevated him to cultstatus among hipsters, poets, and intellectuals. Despite his self-destructive lifestyle and early death, Parker remains oneof the twentieth century's most innovative instrumentalists and composers.

Parker was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas. His father, Charlie Sr., was a stage entertainer and hismother, a domestic of Native American descent. Raised by his mother, Parker attended Catholic schools and, not longafter, became a student at Charles Sumner Elementary. In 1931 Addie took her son to live in Kansas City, Missouri, ahotbed of swing jazz and home to Tom Pendegast's political machine which, as a result of its widespread corruption,fostered the city's musical night club scene. A follower of tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Parker took up alto horn.Having never received any formal musical instruction, he faced stiff competition at local jam sessions from moreseasoned musicians. Although Parker experienced humiliation at the hands of more experienced players, he perseveredby practicing relentlessly and using exercise books.

Parker dropped out of school at age sixteen to pursue a career in music. His mother's full-time employment at WesternUnion offered Parker plenty of opportunities to experience Kansas City's nightlife and drug subculture alone. In 1937Parker worked in Ozark mountain resort clubs, including a four-month stint with George E. Lee's band. The job with Lee'sband afforded Parker ample time for private practice, and he spent hours trying to imitate the Lester Young tenorsaxophone solos featured on recordings by the Count Basie Band. Back in Kansas City, he broadened his musicalknowledge by performing with another influential saxophonist, Buster "Prof" Smith.

In 1938 Parker performed for several months with pianist Jay McShann's Sextet, and then moved on to New York City.On his way to New York, he stopped in Chicago where, at a breakfast dance, he sat-in with the band on saxophone.Despite his disheveled appearance, Parker's saxophone lines astounded listeners. Unable to find musical work in NewYork City, he washed dishes at Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem. While working at Jimmy's, Parker had the opportunityto hear the brilliant house pianist, Art Tatum. As Royal W. Stokes remarked in The Jazz Scene, Art Tatum "was animportant transitional figure" in Parker's musical education. Eventually, Parker performed at dime dance halls and jamsessions. At Don Walls' Chili House, his interaction with guitarist Bill "Biddy" Fleet expanded his knowledge of harmonyand chord substitutions. Parker also took part in jam sessions at Clark Monroe's Uptown House in Harlem, where heworked out brilliant lines over the changes of pop standards such as his favorite showpiece, "Cherokee."

After returning to Kansas City in 1940, Parker joined Jay McShann's big band and was put in charge of organizing thereed section. "But it was no question [Parker] had a profound effort on the band," commented McShann in Talking Jazz,"...when Bird took a solo, he just lifted the band, lifted everybody." In April of 1941, Parker made his first commercialrecordings with McShann's orchestra, including the Decca side "Hootie Blues." His playing on this slow blues number,though ignored by critics at the time, made an immediate impression on many saxophonists. Parker's appearance onMcShann's 1942 sides "Jumpin' Blues," "Lonely Boy Blues," and "Sepian Bounce," inspired Gunther Schuller to remark inThe Swing Era, "Although the 'cool' timbre and linearization of musical ideas of Lester Young are clearly the base of[Parker's] inspiration, he is also beginning to be very much his own man."

In January of 1942, Parker opened at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom. When he was not performing with McShann's orchestra,he sat in at Harlem jam sessions held at Monroe's and Minton's Playhouse. At these impromptu performances, Parkerjoined other jazzmen in experimenting with small ensembles and playing extended solos over complex harmonic formsbuilt upon standard song and compositional forms. Although Parker's talent impressed his contemporaries at the jamsessions, his worsening drug habit forced McShann to fire him. Parker then bided his time between jam sessions and freelance work until December of 1942 when, through the intercession of Billy Eckstine and trumpeter Benny Harris, he foundwork as a tenor saxophonist in Earl "Fatha" Hines' big band which included vocalist Sarah Vaughan. However, Parker'serratic behavior forced Hines to fire him after only eight months with the band.

In 1944, Parker joined Billy Eckstine's innovative bebop big band. He often shared the bandstand with Dizzy Gillespie andseveral other former alumni of the Hines orchestra, including Sarah Vaughan. After a few months, Parker left Eckstine'sband and played on 52nd Street with saxophonist Ben Webster, and later worked with trumpeter Cootie Williams. InFebruary of 1945, Parker collaborated with Gillespie on sessions for the Guild label which produced the numbers "Groovin'

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High" and "Dizzy Atmosphere." Three months later, a session for Guild yielded "Salt Peanuts," "Shaw Nuff," "Hot House,"and "Lover Man" with vocalist Sarah Vaughan. Not long after the first Guild sides were released, Parker's music dividedmusicians and critics into warring camps. "With Parker's emergence," noted jazz trombonist Benny Green in TheReluctant Art, "the term [jazz] had no longer a precise meaning." It forced jazz musicians to align themselves with"music that was pre-Charlie Parker or the music he was playing."

In the fall of 1945, Parker and Gillespie landed a job at the Three Deuces. Shortly thereafter, Parker's irresponsibility anddisregard for promptness caused Gillespie to quit the group. Parker subsequently hired trumpeter Miles Davis to performin a quintet which included drummer Max Roach. As Davis enthusiastically recounted in his memoir Miles, "I was nineteenyears old and playing with the baddest alto saxophone player in the history of music." A month after opening at theThree Deuces, Parker debuted on the Savoy label. Under the name "Charlie Parker's Reboppers," Parker, Gillespie ,Davis, Russell, and Roach recorded the classics "Ko Ko" and "Now's the Time." Gary Giddins stressed in Celebrating Birdthat, ""Ko Ko' was the seminal point of departure for jazz in the postwar era. It's effect paralleled that of [Louis]Armstrong's 'West End Blues' in 1928."

As a member of the Dizzy Gillespie sextet, Parker traveled to Hollywood in December of 1945 to perform at Billy Berg's, aone- story stucco building on Vine Street. "That little band was very skillfully assembled, recalled Gillespie in To Be or Notto Bop. "Charlie Parker I hired, because he was undeniably a genius, musically, the other side of my heartbeat." Billedwith the popular acts Slim Gillard and Henry "The Hipster" Gibson, the sextet played to packed houses. With theexception of a small circle of followers, however, the reaction to the sextet's modern sound was met with indifference.

After finishing their stint at Berg's, Parker and Gillespie recorded several sessions for Hollywood record store owner RossRussell. As a result of poor organization and personnel problems, these first sessions for Russell's newly formed Dial labelyielded little material. When Gillespie's band returned to New York, Parker stayed behind in Los Angeles and continued torecord for Dial. Parker then took a job playing in Howard McGhee's group at the Club Finale. He also attended several Dialrecording sessions which produced a wealth of music including "Yardbird Suite," "Moose the Mooche," and "A Night inTunisia." As Ted Goia noted in West Coast Jazz, these sides "rank among the landmarks of jazz music. On a level withLouis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens and Ellington's work from the early 1940s, the Parker Dial sessions stand outas monumental achievements."

Despite the fine musicianship Parker displayed on the Dial recordings, his personal life was in shambles. He was living inpoverty and suffering from drug withdrawal. On July 29, 1946, Parker attended a Dial recording session. Later that nighta fire, presumably caused by careless smoking, destroyed his room at the Civic Hotel. Earlier that evening, Parker wasseen wandering around the hotel lobby wearing only his socks. He was arrested and held in the psychiatric ward of theEast Los Angeles Jail. Charged with arson, indecent exposure, and resisting arrest, Parker served a six-month term at theCamarillo State Hospital. He was released in January of 1947 and periodically experienced episodes of good health, onlyto succumb to eating binges and further drug abuse. Before returning to New York, Parker participated in recordingsessions for Dial with pianist Erroll Garner, Howard McGhee and Wardell Gray.

Between 1947 and 1948 Parker led a quintet which included, at various times, Miles Davis, pianists Duke Jordan and AlHaig, and Max Roach. Also, extended engagements at New York nightclubs such as the Three Deuces and the Royal Roostprovided Parker with a relatively stable period of work. In September of 1948, Parker cut the Savoy side "Parker's Mood."Acclaimed as one of Parker's finest blues numbers, "Parker's Mood," as Thomas Owens noted in Bebop: The Music and ItsPlayers, "contains a number of [Parker's] standard melodic figures, but the slow tempo gives him more time than usualto reshape and combine them, and to think of new phrases. In the process he creates a beautiful and poignant picture ofthe poetic meaning of the blues - he 'tells his story' as though he was a great blues singer." In December of 1948 andJanuary of 1949, Parker recorded with Machito's Afro-Cuban orchestra for the Verve label.

In May of 1949, Parker made his European debut at the Paris International Festival of Jazz. That same year, Parker hiredtrumpeter Red Rodney. Rodney told Ben Sidran in Talking Jazz, "Charlie Parker was very much like he played. He wasbeautiful. He was so proficient that the instrument was like a toy." In November of 1949, Parker recorded with a stringsection conducted by Mitch Miller. The session yielded the smash hit, "Just Friends." In 1950 and 1952, he continued toperform and record with string quartets and other small groups. In March of 1951 and January of 1952, Parker recordedhis Latin-inspired album, South of the Border. This album, released on the Verve label, contained his popular number "MyLittle Suede Shoes."

In 1953 Parker joined Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, bassist Charles Mingus, and pianist Bud Powell for a performance atToronto's Massey Hall. Around this time, Parker's constant drug use began to take its toll. Although he was still capable ofdelivering fine performances, his reputation for showing up in mid-performance or missing entire shows often forced clubowners to hire Parker on a per set basis. After being admitted twice to Bellevue psychiatric hospital in 1954, Parkerattempted suicide. On March 4, 1955, he made his final appearance at Birdland--the club named in his honor. During theperformance, he exchanged harsh words onstage with Bud Powell and left the nightclub. Five days later, Parker traveledto New York City to visit his close friend and benefactor, Baroness "Nica" Ponnonica de Koenigswarter. Parker suffered anulcer attack while visiting the Baroness, but refused to be hospitalized. He died on March 12, 1955. Autopsy resultsattributed the cause of death to lobar pneumonia and the long-term effects of alcohol and heroin abuse.

During his brief life, Charlie Parker inspired a school of jazz, a legion of followers, and helped to define a generation ofpost-war poets and writers. A few months after Parker's death, Beat writer Jack Kerouac hailed him in his book of poemsMexico City Blues, as "the perfect musician...and a great creator of forms." In recent decades, Parker has become thesubject of books, film documentaries, and a feature motion picture. His music remains an internationally recognizedsource of musical inspiration and one of America's highest artistic achievements.

Awards

Down Beat New Star Award, 1946; elected to Down Beat Hall of Fame 1955.

Works

Selective Discography

Charlie Parker, The Verve Years (1952-54), Verve, 1977.Charlie Parker at Storeyville, Blue Note, (recorded 1953) 1988.Charlie Parker The Legendary Dial Masters Vol. I, Stash, 1989.Charlie Parker Swedish Schnapps+, The Great Quintet Sessions 1919-1951, Verve, 1991.Charlie Parker, "Round Midnight and Other Gems," Tel-Star, 1991.Bird at St. Nick's, Original Jazz Classics, (recorded 1950) 1992.Charlie Parker, Jazz at the Philharmonic 1949, Verve, 1993.Bird on 52nd Street, Original Jazz Classics, (recorded 1948) 1994.Charlie Parker Plays Standards, Jazz Masters 28, Verve, 1994.Charlie Parker, South of the Border, (recorded 1951-1952), 1995.Charlie Parker, The Complete Dial Recordings, Rhino, 1996.Bird and Diz, (recorded 1948) Verve, 1997.Yardbird Suite, The Ultimate Charlie Parker, Rhino, 1997.

Further Reading

Davis, Miles with Quincy Troupe. Miles, The Autobiography, Simon & Schuster, 1990.


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Giddins, Gary. Celebrating Bird, The Triumph of Charlie Parker, Beech Tree Books, 1987.Gillespie, Dizzy with Al Fraser. To Be, or not...To Bop, Memoirs, Doubleday & Co., 1979.Gioa, Ted. West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California 1945-1960, Oxford University Press, 1992.Gitler, Ira. Jazz Masters of the Forties, Collier Books, 1966.Green, Benny. The Reluctant Art: Five Studies in the Growth of Jazz, Da Capo, expanded edition, 1991.Hennessey, Mike. Klook: The Story of Kenny Clarke, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990.Kerouac, Jack. Mexico City Blues (242) Choruses, Grove Press, 1959.Owens, Thomas. Bebop: The Music and Its Players, Oxford University Press, 1995.Reisner, Robert, ed. Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker, Da Capo, 1962.Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz 1930-1945, Oxford University Press, 1989.Sidran, Ben. Talking Jazz: An Oral History, expanded edition, Da Capo, 1995.Stokes, Royal W. The Jazz Scene: An Informal History From New Orleans to 1990, Oxford University Press, 1990.

John Cohassey

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Parker, Charlie "Bird" (Charles Christopher Parker, Jr.), 1920-55, American musician and composer, b. Kansas City,Kans. He began playing alto saxophone in 1933, and after shifting from one band to another he met Dizzy Gillespie inNew York City. They formed a quintet, which in 1945 made the first bop (or bebop) records and thus became the leadersof the bop movement in jazz. Parker's brilliant improvisations, noted for their power and beauty, soon earned theadmiration of innumerable musicians. He composed several instrumental quartets and made many recordings. For manyyears Parker was addicted to drugs, which hastened his death.

Bibliography

See biography by B. Priestley (2006); studies by L. O. Koch (1988) and G. Giddens (1998).

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For The Record...

Original members included Chris Dreja (bornNovember 11, 1944, in Surbiton, London,England) rhythm guitar, then bass; Jim McCarty(born July 25, 1943, in Liverpool, Merseyside,England), drums; Keith Relf (born March 22,1943, in Richmond, London; died of electrocution,May 14, 1976), vocals, harmonica; PaulSamwell-Smith (born May 8, 1944, in Richmond;left group 1966), bass; and Anthony TopTopham (born in 1947 in England; left group1963), lead guitar.

Other members included Jeff Beck (born June 24,1944, in Wallington, London; joined group 1965;left group 1966), lead guitar; Eric Clapton (bornEric Patrick Clapp, March 30, 1945, in Ripley,Derbys, England; joined group 1963; left group1965), lead guitar; Jimmy Page (bom April 9,1944, in London; joined group 1966), bass, thenrhythm guitar, then lead guitar.

Relf, Samwell-Smith, Dreja, and Topham met atLondons Kingston Art School, 1963; bandoriginally called the Metropolitan Blues Quartet;performed in Richmond and London clubs; becamehouse band at Crawdaddy club, 1963; backedSonny Boy Williamson on tour, 1963; signed withEMI/Columbia (in U.K.), 1964; supported theBeatles, Paris, 1965; toured U.S., 1965; touredAustralia and Far East, 1967; appeared in filmBlow Up, 1967; disbanded, 1968. Page went on toform the New Yardbirds, which became LedZeppelin.

Awards: Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall ofFame, 1992.

Rock band

Although the British rock and roll scene of the 1960s introduced bands more popular and longer-lived than the Yardbirds,only a few can match that august quintet for their lasting influence. Extant only from 1963 to 1968, the Yardbirds werecrucial to the development of rock and roll from its roots in rhythm and blues to its growth into psychedelia and heavymetal. At the heart of the bands distinctive sound were three of rocks most gifted guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, andJimmy Page. Each shouldered lead guitar duties during the bands brief historyBeck and Page simultaneously at onepointand their technical innovations, as well as the prominence they have achieved since, have combined to create aYardbirds legacy that has lasted considerably longer than the band itself.

The Yardbirds were born of the same early 1960s London rhythm and blues club scene that produced the Rolling Stones.The original lineup included Keith Relf on vocals, Chris Dreja on rhythm guitar, Jim McCarty on drums, PaulSamwell-Smith on bass, and Anthony "Top" Topham on lead guitar. By the end of 1963, Eric

Clapton had taken Tophams place (the latter going back to school), and the Yardbirds were developing an enthusiasticfollowing both in London and on the southern Home Counties club circuit. Enthusiasm for the group rivaled that of theStones, but while both bands played the same R&B standards, the Yardbirds remained more faithful to the materialonstage.

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When the Rolling Stones moved beyond the local club circuit, the Yardbirds took over their spot as house band at thelegendary Crawdaddy club. Their shows became famous for "rave ups," the term used by the group to describe theirmethod of constantly increasing the tempo during a set in order to push the crowd into a frenzy. 1964 saw the release ofthe bands first album in England, Five Live Yardbirds, which featured performances at the Marquee Club. Though thegroups renowned live performances did not translate into commercial success for the album, the Yardbirds reputationcontinued to spread. They toured Europe as the backing band for veteran blues performer Sonny Boy Williamson, whosesongs they regularly covered. In 1965, an album from that tour was released on both sides of the Atlantic, but Williamsonhad top billing and the Yardbirds remained hitless.

"For Your Love" Inspired Claptons DepartureThe fivesome finally hit the charts later in 1965 with the driving single "For Your Love," but the song created strife withinthe band. written specially for the Yardbirds by Graham Gouldman, later of 10cc, "For Your Love" marked a departurefrom the groups focus on the blues. Upset by this sacrifice of their roots for the sake of commercial success, Clapton left.Still, neither he nor the band suffered because of the break; while Clapton went on to join John Mayalls Bluesbreakersduring his tenure with that group the graffito "Clapton Is God" began appearing on walls around Londonand laterformed the seminal power trio Cream, the Yardbirds recruited another highly respected local guitarist, Jeff Beck, to takehis place, and their fame continued to grow. "For Your Love" hit the Number Three spot on the U.K. singles chart andwent to Number Six in the U.S. And in the fall of 1965, the new lineup mounted their first American tour, on the heels oftheir first American album release, For Your Love, which would only make it to Number 96. Later in the year theYardbirds became regulars on a celebrated weekly British radio show.

Their next U.S. release, Having a Rave Up With the Yardbirds, debuted in late 1965 and managed to hit Number 53. Fourof the cuts on Rave Up were recorded before Claptons departure; the rest featured Beck on lead guitar. The album,firmly rooted in blues-based rock, spawned another hit single written by Gouldman, "Heart Full of Soul," which climbed toNumber Two in the U.K. and Number Nine stateside. It also featured psychedelic experimentation, evidenced on "Still ImSad," a British Number Three hit based on a Gregorian chant. The bands next record, Over Under Sideways Down, movedeven further toward psychedelia, both lyrically and in Becks innovative guitar work. The title cut was a Top Ten hit in theU.K. and reached Number 11 in America; the single "Shapes of Things" went to Number Three at home and again, toNumber 11 in the U.S. The album, however, failed to rise above Number 52 stateside.

Page on Bass, then Rhythm GuitarBy this time the Yardbirds had established themselves as an outstanding rock outfit, but dissension again wroughtchange; in June of 1966, Samwell-Smith left to give his full attention to producing records. To counter this loss, Drejaswitched from rhythm guitar to bass, and Jimmy Page stepped in to assume the role of rhythm guitarist. Already one ofthe most sought-after session musicians in London, page had turned down an offer to join the band when Clapton bowedout. The next month, the Yardbirds issued their first, self-titled studio album, which ascended to the Number 20 spot onthe U.K chart.

Shortly after Page arrived, Beck developed health problemsin April of 1966, according to Rock Movers & Shakers, hewas hospitalized in France with suspected meningitisthat forced his extended absence from the band; at that point, theever-versatile Page took over on lead guitar. When Beck recovered and returned to the group, he and Page shared leaddutiesthe Yardbirds thus boasting two of the greatest axemen rock has ever seen. Still, Beck and page did have theirmoments of discord. Page looked pack at their pairing in a 1992 interview in Guitar Player: "I was doing what I wassupposed to, while something totally different would be coming from Jeff. That was alright for improvisation, but therewere other parts where it just did not work. Jeff had discipline occasionally, in that when hes on, hes probably the bestthere is. But at that time he had no respect for audiences. When I joined the band, he supposedly wasnt going to walkoff anymore. Well, he did a couple of times." Beck left the group in 1966, making the quintet a quartet.

While the Yardbirds continued to play to packed houses, 1967 brought no hit singles in the U.S. Their album of that year,Little Games, consisted mostly of material that the band reportedly never intended to release (in fact, they successfullyprevented the release of Little Games in the U.K.); it was received poorly by both critics and the public. But that yearalso saw the unveiling of The Yardbirds Greatest Hits, their first and only album to make Billboards Top 40.

BreakupIn 1968 the Yardbirds tried once again to infiltrate the U.S. singles chart, but their goal eluded them. By this time,various members of the band had decided to go their separate ways. Beck left first and, after recording two solo singles,formed the Jeff Beck Group with vocalist Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood. Relf and McCarty performed as a folk duetcalled Together, then helped form Renaissance, which continued some of the experimentation with various musical stylesthat they had begun with the Yardbirds. Reif died in 1976 from an electric shock sustained while playing guitar at hishome. Dreja, after initially casting his lot with Page, eventually left music for photography. Perhaps the most significantdevelopment for rock following the demise of the Yardbirds, however, was the result of contractual obligations for aconcert tour of Scandinavia. Page inherited the bands name and the responsibility for fulfilling the northern dates, so herecruited three other musicians and performed with them as the New Yardbirds. When Page and his new crewdrummerJohn Bonham, bassist John Paul Jones, and vocalist Robert Plantreturned to England, the New Yardbirds became LedZeppelin (after Who drummer Keith Moons pet description for a catastrophic concert"going down like a lead Zeppelin").

The five-year life of the Yardbirds weathered major changes in the nature of rock, and more than most bands, theYardbirds aided in the transformation. As author and rock critic Dave Marsh stated in Rolling Stone, "The Yardbirdshelped introduce almost every technical innovation in the rock of the period: feedback, modal playing, fuzztone, etc.Their influence cant be overestimated. Cream, Led Zeppelin, and heavy metal in general would have been inconceivablewithout them." And though the Yardbirds did not achieve mass popularity during the British Invasion that carried them tothe U.S., their 1992 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame attests to the enduring impact that their songwritingand musicianship has had on the character of rock.

Selected discography

Singles (U.S.); on Epic"For Your Love," 1965."Heart Full of Soul," 1965."Over Under Sideways Down," 1966."Shapes of Things," 1966.

Albums (U.S.); on Epic, except as notedSonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds, Mercury, 1965.For Your Love, 1965.Having a Rave Up With the Yardbirds, 1965.Over Under Sideways Down, 1966.The Yardbirds Greatest Hits, 1967.Little Games, 1967.Five Live Yardbirds, Rhino, 1988.The Yardbirds: Little Games Sessions and More, EMI, 1992.

Sources


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BooksLogan, Nick, and Woffinden, Bob, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, Harmony, 1977.

Naha, Ed, Liflian Roxons Rock Encyclopedia, Grosset & Dunlap, 1978.Rees, Dafydd, and Luke Crampton, Rock Movers & Shakers, ABC/OJO, 1991.The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, edited by Jon Pareles and Patricia Romanowski, Rolling Stone Press/Summit Books,1983.Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, St. Martins, 1989.

PeriodicalsGuitar Player, January 1992; November 1992.Entertainment Weekly, September 18, 1992.Pulse!, August 1992.Rolling Stone, February 6, 1992.

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Genres: Jazz

Biography

One of a handful of musicians who can be said to have permanently changed jazz, Charlie Parker was arguably thegreatest saxophonist of all time. He could play remarkably fast lines that, if slowed down to half speed, would reveal thatevery note made sense. "Bird," along with his contemporaries Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, is considered a founder ofbebop; in reality he was an intuitive player who simply was expressing himself. Rather than basing his improvisationsclosely on the melody as was done in swing, he was a master of chordal improvising, creating new melodies that werebased on the structure of a song. In fact, Bird wrote several future standards (such as "Anthropology," "Ornithology,""Scrapple from the Apple," and "Ko Ko," along with such blues numbers as "Now's the Time" and "Parker's Mood") that"borrowed" and modernized the chord structures of older tunes. Parker's remarkable technique, fairly original sound, andability to come up with harmonically advanced phrases that could be both logical and whimsical were highly influential.By 1950, it was impossible to play "modern jazz" with credibility without closely studying Charlie Parker.

Born in Kansas City, KS, Charlie Parker grew up in Kansas City, MO. He first played baritone horn before switching toalto. Parker was so enamored of the rich Kansas City music scene that he dropped out of school when he was 14, eventhough his musicianship at that point was questionable (with his ideas coming out faster than his fingers could playthem). After a few humiliations at jam sessions, Bird worked hard woodshedding over one summer, building up histechnique and mastery of the fundamentals. By 1937, when he first joined Jay McShann's Orchestra, he was already along way toward becoming a major player.

Charlie Parker, who was early on influenced by Lester Young and the sound of Buster Smith, visited New York for the firsttime in 1939, working as a dishwasher at one point so he could hear Art Tatum play on a nightly basis. He made hisrecording debut with Jay McShann in 1940, creating remarkable solos with a small group from McShann's orchestra on"Oh, Lady Be Good" and "Honeysuckle Rose." When the McShann big band arrived in New York in 1941, Parker had shortsolos on a few of their studio blues records, and his broadcasts with the orchestra greatly impressed (and sometimesscared) other musicians who had never heard his ideas before. Parker, who had met and jammed with Dizzy Gillespie forthe first time in 1940, had a short stint with Noble Sissle's band in 1942, played tenor with Earl Hines' sadly unrecordedbop band of 1943, and spent a few months in 1944 with Billy Eckstine's orchestra, leaving before that group made theirfirst records. Gillespie was also in the Hines and Eckstine big bands, and the duo became a team starting in late 1944.

Although Charlie Parker recorded with Tiny Grimes' combo in 1944, it was his collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945that startled the jazz world. To hear the two virtuosos play rapid unisons on such new songs as "Groovin' High," "DizzyAtmosphere," "Shaw 'Nuff," "Salt Peanuts," and "Hot House," and then launch into fiery and unpredictable solos could bean upsetting experience for listeners much more familiar with Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. Although the new musicwas evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the recording strike of 1943-1944 resulted in bebop arriving fully formed onrecords, seemingly out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, Charlie Parker was a heroin addict ever since he was a teenager, and some other musicians who idolizedBird foolishly took up drugs in the hope that it would elevate their playing to his level. When Gillespie and Parker (knownas "Diz and Bird") traveled to Los Angeles and were met with a mixture of hostility and indifference (except by youngermusicians who listened closely), they decided to return to New York. Impulsively, Parker cashed in his ticket, ended upstaying in L.A., and, after some recordings and performances (including a classic version of "Oh, Lady Be Good" with Jazzat the Philharmonic), the lack of drugs (which he combated by drinking an excess of liquor) resulted in a mentalbreakdown and six months of confinement at the Camarillo State Hospital. Released in January 1947, Parker soon headedback to New York and engaged in some of the most rewarding playing of his career, leading a quintet that included MilesDavis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach. Parker, who recorded simultaneously for the Savoy and Dial labels,was in peak form during the 1947-1951 period, visiting Europe in 1949 and 1950, and realizing a lifelong dream to recordwith strings starting in 1949 when he switched to Norman Granz's Verve label.

But Charlie Parker, due to his drug addiction and chance-taking personality, enjoyed playing with fire too much. In 1951,his cabaret license was revoked in New York (making it difficult for him to play in clubs) and he became increasinglyunreliable. Although he could still play at his best when he was inspired (such as at the 1953 Massey Hall concert withGillespie), Bird was heading downhill. In 1954, he twice attempted suicide before spending time in Bellevue. His health,shaken by a very full if brief life of excesses, gradually declined, and when he died in March 1955 at the age of 34, hecould have passed for 64.

Charlie Parker, who was a legendary figure during his lifetime, has if anything grown in stature since his death. Virtuallyall of his studio recordings are available on CD along with a countless number of radio broadcasts and club appearances.Clint Eastwood put together a well-intentioned if simplified movie about aspects of his life (Bird). Parker's influence, afterthe rise of John Coltrane, has become more indirect than direct, but jazz would sound a great deal different if CharlieParker had not existed. The phrase "Bird Lives" (which was scrawled as graffiti after his death) is still very true. ~ ScottYanow, Rovi

Home >Library >Miscellaneous >Wikipedia

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Charlie Parker

For other people named Charles Parker, see Charles Parker (disambiguation).

Charles "Charlie" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 March 12, 1955), alsoknown as "Yardbird" and "Bird",[2] was an American jazz saxophonistand composer. Miles Davis once said, "You can tell the history of jazz infour words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker."[3]

Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career[4] and the


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Charlie Parker with Tommy Potter,Max Roach and Miles Davis at Three

Deuces, New York, NY

Background information

Birth name Charles Parker, Jr.

Also knownas

Bird, Yardbird,Zoizeau (in France)[1]

Born August 29, 1920Kansas City, Kansas,United States

Died March 12, 1955(aged 34)New York City, NewYork, United States

Genres Jazz, bebop

Occupations Saxophonist, composer

Instruments Alto saxophone, tenorsaxophone

Years active 19371955

Labels Savoy, Dial, Verve

Associatedacts

Miles Davis, Max Roach

Website www.cmgww.com/music/parker/

Notable instruments

Buescher, Conn, King and Graftonalto saxophones

shortened form, "Bird", which continued to be used for the rest of his life,inspired the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "YardbirdSuite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise."

Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in thedevelopment of bebop,[5] a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos,virtuosic technique, and improvisation. Parker introduced revolutionaryharmonic ideas, including rapid passing chords, new variants of alteredchords, and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean andpenetrating to sweet and somber. Many Parker recordings demonstrate hisvirtuoso playing style and complex melodic lines, sometimes combiningjazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin, and classical.

Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the BeatGeneration, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artistand intellectual, rather than an entertainer.

Contents1 Biography

1.1 Childhood1.2 Early career1.3 New York City1.4 Bebop1.5 Addiction1.6 Charlie Parker with Strings1.7 Jazz at Massey Hall1.8 Death

2 Music3 Discography4 Awards and recognitions5 Musical tributes6 Charlie Parker Residence7 Other tributes8 Notes9 References10 External links

Biography

Childhood

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City,Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. Parker attendedLincoln High School.[6] He enrolled in September 1934 and withdrew inDecember 1935, just before joining the local Musicians Union.

Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 joined hisschool's band using a rented school instrument. His father, Charles, wasoften absent but provided some musical influence; he was a pianist,dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit. He later became a Pullmanwaiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggestinfluence at that time was a young trombone player who taught him the basics of improvisation[citation needed].

Early career

In the late 1930s Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed someof the ideas that led to bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said that he spent 34 years practicing up to 15hours a day.[7]

Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten undoubtedly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubsaround Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamictransitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.

In 1938, Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band.[8] The band toured nightclubs and other venues of thesouthwest, as well as Chicago and New York City.[9][10] Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann'sband.

As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while in the hospital, after an automobile accident, andsubsequently became addicted to heroin. He continued using heroin throughout his life, which ultimately contributed tohis death.

New York City

In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked fornine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed[citation needed]

In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played with Earl Hines for one year, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, wholater played with Parker as a duo. Unfortunately, this period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 19421943 bythe American Federation of Musicians, during which time few recordings were made. Parker joined a group of youngmusicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House and Minton's Playhouse.These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer KennyClarke. The beboppers' attitude was summed up in a famous quotation attributed to Monk by Mary Lou Williams: "Wewanted a music that they couldn't play"[11] "they" being the white bandleaders who had usurped and profited fromswing music. The group played in venues on 52nd Street, including Three Deuces and The Onyx. While in New York City,Parker studied with his music teacher, Maury Deutsch.

Bebop

According to an interview Parker gave in the 1950s, one night in 1939, he was playing "Cherokee" in a jam session withguitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musicalinnovations. He realized that the twelve tones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some ofthe confines of simpler jazz soloing.


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Parker's grave at Lincoln

Cemetery.

Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians whodisdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However,some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Benny Goodman, were more positive about its development, andparticipated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.

Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's earlydevelopment was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficulttime gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker'scollaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. One oftheir first (and greatest) small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in NewYork's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.

On 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 Dizzy 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".

Shortly afterwards, 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, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. Heexperienced great hardship in California, eventually being committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for a six-monthperiod.

Addiction

Parker's chronic addiction to heroin caused him to miss gigs and lose work. He frequently resorted to busking on thestreets, receiving loans from fellow musicians and admirers, and pawning his saxophones for drug money. Heroin usewas rampant in the jazz scene and the drug could be acquired easily.

Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroinwas difficult to obtain when he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, and Parker began to drink heavilyto compensate for it. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Prior to thissession, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missedmost of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track, "Max Making Wax." When he finally did come in, he swayedwildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer RossRussell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with asolid first eight bars. On his second eight bars, however, Parker begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, thetrumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at Parker. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be amongParker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws.[12] Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave RossRussell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.

When Parker was released from the hospital, he was clean and healthy, and proceeded to do some of the best playingand recording of his career. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo", in reference to his hospitalstay. He returned to New York, resumed his addiction to heroin and recorded dozens of sides for the Savoy and Diallabels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classicquintet" including trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach.

Charlie Parker with Strings

A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, andcontemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky and longed toengage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz andclassical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards.

On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz andchamber orchestra musicians.[13] Six master takes from this session comprised the album Charlie Parker with Strings:"Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If IShould Lose You". The sound of these recordings is rare in Parker's catalog. Parker's improvisations are, in comparison tohis usual work, more distilled and economical. His tone is darker and softer than on his small-group recordings, and themajority of his lines are beautiful embellishments on the original melodies rather than harmonically based improvisations.These are among the few recordings Parker made during a brief period when he was able to control his heroin habit, andhis sobriety and clarity of mind are evident in his playing. Parker stated that, of his own records, Bird With Strings washis favorite.[citation needed] Although using classical music instrumentation with jazz musicians was not entirely original,this was the first major work where a composer of bebop was matched with a string orchestra.

Jazz at Massey Hall

In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Bud Powell and Max Roach.Unfortunately, the concert clashed with a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey JoeWalcott, so was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert,he played a plastic Grafton saxophone[citation needed]. At this point in his career he was experimenting with new soundsand materials. Parker himself explained the purpose of the plastic saxophone in a May 9, 1953 broadcast from Birdlandand does so again in subsequent May 1953 broadcast.[citation needed]

Parker is known to have played several saxophones, including the Conn 6M, The Martin Handicraft and Selmer Model 22.Parker is also known to have performed with a King "Super 20" saxophone. Parker's King Super 20 saxophone was madespecially for him in 1947.

Death

Parker died in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter atthe Stanhope Hotel in New York City while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show ontelevision. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer butParker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coronerwho performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between50 and 60 years of age.[14]

Parker had been living since 1950 with Chan Richardson, the mother of his son Baird andhis daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife;however he never formally married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris (whomhe had married in 1948). This complicated the settling of Parker's inheritance and wouldultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.

It was well known that Parker never wanted to return to Kansas City, even in death.[citation needed] Parker had told Chanthat he did not want to be buried in the city of his birth; that New York was his home. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeralarrangements[15] and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a


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"Bird Lives" sculpture by Robert Graham

in Kansas City, Missouri

memorial concert, before Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Parker'swidow criticized Parkers family for giving him a Christian funeral even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist.[16]

Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit.

Parker's estate is managed by CMG Worldwide.

Music

Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over pre-existing jazz forms and standards, apractice still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" ("How High The Moon") and "Yardbird Suite", thevocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker. The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop;however, it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards andcompose their own material.

While tunes such as "Now's The Time," "Billie's Bounce," "Au Privave," "Barbados," "Relaxin' at Camarillo," "Bloomdido,"and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional twelve-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the12-bar blues for tunes such as "Blues for Alice", "Laird Baird", and "Si Si". These unique chords are known popularly as"Bird Changes".[citation needed] Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic linesand a minimum of repetition although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".

Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox waysto lead into chord tones, affording the soloist with more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided.Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Via his recordings and the popularityof the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's uniquely identifiable style dominated jazz for manyyears to come.

Discography

Main article: Charlie Parker discographyAwards and recognitions

Grammy Award

Charlie Parker Grammy Award History[17]

Year Category Title Genre Label Result

1974Best Performance By A

SoloistFirst

Recordings!Jazz Onyx Winner

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, whichis a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are atleast twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Charlie Parker: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[18]

YearRecorded

Title Genre LabelYear

Inducted

1945 "Billie's Bounce"Jazz

(Single)Savoy 2002

1953 Jazz at Massey HallJazz

(Album)Debut 1995

1946 "Ornithology"Jazz

(Single)Dial 1989

1950Charlie Parker with

StringsJazz

(Album)Mercury 1988

Inductions

Year Inducted Title

2004 Jazz at Lincoln Center: Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame

1984 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

1979 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame

National Recording Registry

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.

U.S. Postage Stamp

Year Issued Stamp USA Note

1995 32 cents Commemorative stamp U.S. Postal Stamps Photo (Scott No. 2987)[19]

Musical tributes

Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.Street musician Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory.The Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone sectionSaxophonist Phil Woods recorded a tribute concert for ParkerWeather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album(1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itselfIn 2003 various artists including Serj Tankian and Dan the Automator put out Bird Up: The Charlie Parker RemixProject. This album created new songs by remixing Charlie Parker's originals.The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.The avant-garde trombonist George Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979)Sparks released the song "(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing" on their 1994 album Gratuitous Sax &Senseless ViolinsDuane Allman devised a unique slide guitar technique that enabled him to mimic the sounds of chirping birds, statingin at least one interview that this was his tribute to Parker.The Only World by poet Lynda Hull includes the poem "Ornithology" about Charlie Parker.Refused included live recordings of Parker at the end of the song "Liberation Frequency" and transitioned it into "The


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Charlie Parker ResidenceU.S. National Register of Historic Places

NYC Landmark

(2011)

Location: 151 Avenue BManhattan, NewYork City

Coordinates: 404336N735850W

Built: C. 1849Architectural style: Gothic RevivalGoverning body: PrivateNRHP Reference#: 94000262

Significant dates

Added to NRHP: April 7, 1994[21]

Designated NRHP: April 7, 1994Designated NYCL: May 18, 1999[20]

Deadly Rhythm" on the album The Shape of Punk to Come.Charlie Parker Residence

From 1950 to 1954, Parker and his common-law wife, Chan Richardson,lived in the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across fromTompkins Square Park in Manhattan's East Village. The Gothic Revivalbuilding, which was built c.1849,[22] was added to the National Registerof Historic Places in 1994,[23] and was designated a New York Citylandmark in 1999. Avenue B, between East 7th and 10th Streets, wasrenamed Charlie Parker Place in 1992.

Other tributes

The 1957 story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features ajazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazzmusician, whose style he hopes to emulate.In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor.Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland",named for both Parker and the nightclub.A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17thTerrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at18th and Vine, featuring a 10-foot (3 m) tall bronze head sculpted byRobert Graham.The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival thattakes place every summer on the last weekend of August inManhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem andTompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by thenon-profit organization City Parks Foundation. The festival marked its17th anniversary in 2009.In one of his most famous short story collections, Las armas secretas(The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortzar dedicated "El perseguidor"("The Pursuer") to the memory of Charlie Parker. This piece examinesthe last days of Johnny, a drug-addict saxophonist, through the eyesof Bruno, his biographer. Some qualify this story as one of Cortazar'smasterpieces in the genre.A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker anddirected by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.[24]

In 1984, legendary modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey createdthe piece For Bird With Love in honor of Parker. The piecechronicles his life, from his early career to his failing health.In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned aspecial "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50thanniversary of the death of Charlie Parker (19552005).Parker's performances of "I Remember You" and "Parker's Mood"(recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker AllStars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, JohnLewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums)were selected by Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the"twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works ofAmerican art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of"Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.The Oris Watch Company created a limited edition timepiece inCharlie Parker's name. The watch features the word "bird" at the 4o'clock hour, in honor of Parker's nickname and signifying "Jazz, until4 in the morning".Jean-Michel Basquiat created many pieces to honour Charlie Parker,including Charles the First, CPRKR and Discography I.In 1995, Live Bird, a one-man play about Charlie Parker, written andperformed by actor/saxophonist Jeff Robinson, made its premier atthe Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts.Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tributeto Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a major influence in his life as a young man learning to play jazz.

Notes

^ Ross Russell, Bird, La vie de Charlie Parker,translation by Mimi Perrin, preface by Chan Parker,Paris: Le livre de poche, 1980.

1.

^ Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner2.^ Griffin, Farah Jasmine; Washington, Salim (2008).Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, JohnColtrane, and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever.New York: Thomas Dunne Books. p. 237.

3.

^ "there are many contradictory stories of thename's origin". Birdlives.co.uk. Retrieved March 10,2011.

4.

^ "Charlie Parker". The New Grove Dictionary ofJazz. Retrieved 23 April 2012.

5.

^ Woideck, Carl (October 1998). Charlie Parker: HisMusic and Life. Michigan American Music Series.University of Michigan Press. p. 4.ISBN 978-0-472-08555-2. "In Lincoln High School hewas the pride of his teachers..."

6.

^ "Paul Desmond interviews Charlie Parker".puredesmond.ca. Retrieved March 1, 2011.

7.

^ Woideck, Carl (October 1998). Charlie Parker: HisMusic and Life. Michigan American Music Series.University of Michigan Press. p. 18.ISBN 978-0-472-08555-2.

8.

^ "pbs.org". pbs.org. Retrieved March 10, 2011.9.

^ amb.cult.bg[dead link]10.^ Blakely, Johanna (April 2010). Lessons fromFashion's Free Culture (TEDxUSC 2010). TEDTalks.Event occurs at 7:458:00. Retrieved December 3,2010.

11.

^ Gitler, Ira (2001). The Masters of Bebop: AListener's Guide. Da Capo Press. p. 33.ISBN 0-306-81009-3. "Charles Mingus once chose itwhen asked to name his favorite Parker recordings. 'Ilike all,' he said, 'none more than the other, but I'dhave to pick Lover Man for the feeling he had thenand his ability to express that feeling.'"

12.

^ Ross Russell Bird Lives! The High Life & HardTimes of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker, 1973, New York:Charterhouse, p273. ISBN 0-306-80679-7

13.

^ Reisner, Robert, ed. (1977). Bird: the Legend ofCharlie Parker. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 133.

14.

^ "Ken Burns interviews Chan Parker" (PDF).Retrieved March 10, 2011.

15.

^ Ross Russell (1996). Bird Lives!: The High Life AndHard Times Of Charlie (yardbird) Parker. Da CapoPress. p. 361. ISBN 9780306806797. "A confirmedatheist, he had not been inside a church in years."

16.

^ Grammy Awards search engine[dead link]17.^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database[dead link]18.


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^ Richard Tucker. "Charlie Parker: 32 centsCommemorative stamp". Esperstamps.org. RetrievedMarch 10, 2011.

19.

^ "Charlie Parker Residence Designation Report",New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

20.

^ "Parker, Charlie, Residence" on the NRHP database21.^ New York City Landmarks Preservation22.

Commission; Postal, Matthew A. (ed. and text);Dolkart, Andrew S. (text). (2009) Guide to New YorkCity Landmarks (4th ed.) New York:John Wiley andSons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1, p.69^ "Charlie Parker: The Charlie Parker Residence,NYC". Charlieparkerresidence.net. Retrieved March10, 2011.

23.

^ Bird at the Internet Movie Database24.References

Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.Giddins, Gary (1987). Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. New York: Beech Tree Books, William Morrow.ISBN 0-688-05950-3Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, NortheasternUniversity Press. ISBN 1-55555-384-1Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-245-9Reisner, George (1962). Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker. New York, Bonanza Books.Russell, Ross (1973). Bird Lives! The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker. New York:Charterhouse.ISBN 0-306-80679-7Woideck, Carl (1998). Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN0-472-08555-7Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books.ISBN 0-02-864714-9Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.

External links

The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" ParkerCharlie Parker discography at DiscogsCharlie Parker discography

Charlie Parker SessionographyClips and notes about Parker

Who is charlie Parker?Do charlie Parker have kids and a wife?Who was Charlie Parkers parents?What are charlie parker's nicknames?

Who were Charlie Parker's All-Stars?Why did Charlie Parker play the instrument?Why did charlie Parker get a statue?How tall was Charlie Parker?

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