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Charlie "Yardbird" Parker for Sainthood?
Charles Christopher Parker, Jr. was born on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. He was nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird" due to his love for chicken. (lol)
To make a long story short, after having played with countless bands while in Kansas City, Missouri (where his family moved when Charlie was 7) and in New York City, after having established himself there in 1939, Charlie Parker did some of his most legendary playing throughout the 1940s with his group fronted by himself and trumpettist John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie. Diz & Bird were, between them, responsible for the explosion of modern jazz with the birth of a new style called "Bebop". Especially Bird, who created a new vocabulary of jazz improvisation which to this day, one could not avoid having to study intensely before calling oneself a true jazz musician.
After Bird's problems with drugs, alcohol & an uncontrollable lifestyle led to Dizzy's resignation from the band, Charlie Parker replaced him with a young Miles Davis, who himself would go on to become an important figure in bebop, and would be the creator & initiator of several different styles in the decades to come. Bird continued to make some of his most legendary recordings & performances with young Miles by his side.
Unfortunately, Bird's drug & alcohol problem, particularly his heroin addiction, which had been haunting him since his early teen years, finally caught up with him. Plagued by health problems, including ulcers and cirrhosis of the liver, Charles Christopher Parker Jr. died on March 12, 1955 at the age of 34. He had so badly abused his body that the doctor who examined him estimated his age at 60. Besides his often imitated, but never matched playing style, he left behind a terrible legacy with other jazz musicians, who also did drugs, thinking if they used like Bird, they could play like Bird.
However, Charlie Parker's playing & musicianship cannot possibly be defined with words. He had something special going on between his ears... something genuinely divine. Today, one of the most important books for a student of jazz must have & study & learn from is the "Charlie Parker Omnibook", which is a collection of his compositions &, most importantly, note-for-note transcriptions of his improvised solos on these tunes. Bird would play so fast that you would stop hearing notes & start hearing his soul speaking through his horn. If one was to slow down his crazy fast soloing & looked at the notes he was playing one-by-one, u would see that every note is there for a reason. Parker's playing style, like all truly great musicians, was NO BS....
Charlie Parker with a young Miles Davis (1948)
To make a long story short, after having played with countless bands while in Kansas City, Missouri (where his family moved when Charlie was 7) and in New York City, after having established himself there in 1939, Charlie Parker did some of his most legendary playing throughout the 1940s with his group fronted by himself and trumpettist John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie. Diz & Bird were, between them, responsible for the explosion of modern jazz with the birth of a new style called "Bebop". Especially Bird, who created a new vocabulary of jazz improvisation which to this day, one could not avoid having to study intensely before calling oneself a true jazz musician.
After Bird's problems with drugs, alcohol & an uncontrollable lifestyle led to Dizzy's resignation from the band, Charlie Parker replaced him with a young Miles Davis, who himself would go on to become an important figure in bebop, and would be the creator & initiator of several different styles in the decades to come. Bird continued to make some of his most legendary recordings & performances with young Miles by his side.
Unfortunately, Bird's drug & alcohol problem, particularly his heroin addiction, which had been haunting him since his early teen years, finally caught up with him. Plagued by health problems, including ulcers and cirrhosis of the liver, Charles Christopher Parker Jr. died on March 12, 1955 at the age of 34. He had so badly abused his body that the doctor who examined him estimated his age at 60. Besides his often imitated, but never matched playing style, he left behind a terrible legacy with other jazz musicians, who also did drugs, thinking if they used like Bird, they could play like Bird.
However, Charlie Parker's playing & musicianship cannot possibly be defined with words. He had something special going on between his ears... something genuinely divine. Today, one of the most important books for a student of jazz must have & study & learn from is the "Charlie Parker Omnibook", which is a collection of his compositions &, most importantly, note-for-note transcriptions of his improvised solos on these tunes. Bird would play so fast that you would stop hearing notes & start hearing his soul speaking through his horn. If one was to slow down his crazy fast soloing & looked at the notes he was playing one-by-one, u would see that every note is there for a reason. Parker's playing style, like all truly great musicians, was NO BS....
Charlie Parker with a young Miles Davis (1948)
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