Bird stays focused as Dizzy clowns.
#HTTP-EQUIV=keywords CONTENT="classical music: CD new releases, composers, humor etc"> #NAME=author CONTENT="Bill Munger"> #NAME=description CONTENT="new CD releases, composers, humor etc">
Bird stays focused
as Dizzy clowns.
Parker, Charles Christopher, Jr.
"Bird" "Yardbird" "Charlie"
August 29, 1920
He was born in Kansas City,
Kansas and was raised in Kansas City, MO. His mother bought him
an alto saxophone in 1931. He played baritone horn in the the
school band. At 15 he left school. After spending a summer with
George E. Lee's band he returned to Kansas City with a style,
development and phenomenal ability for creativity that marked
his playing later in New York. Upon his arrival in New York he
became the chief creative influence in the new music of the 40s.
Between 1937 and 1939 he worked for Jay McShann's Big Band, Lawrence
Keys and Harlan Leonard. He first came to New York in 1939 and
for almost a year worked at Monroe's Uptown House, the place where
jam sessions with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke,
Joe Guy, Thelonius Monk, Don Byas, Kenny Kersey, Nick Finton et
al were producing the new music soon to be called bebop.
In April 1941 he made his first recordings, with Jay McShann.
Around this time he met Dizzy Gillespie who sat in with Jay McShann
at the Savoy Ballroom. Both men were developing a new approach
to jazz and it is unlikely that either had any influence on the
other. By 1945 they were working with each other and became known
as the founders of bop.
Later Bird left the McShann Band and starting sitting in at Minton's
Playhouse, another club where bop was developing. During that
time (1942) he played clarinet and alto with Noble Sissle and
in 1943 he played tenor with Earl Hines. Dizzy Gillespie was in
that band as well. After working briefly with Cootie Williams
and Andy Kirk he went on the road with Billy Eckstine in 1944
playing alto. Diz was in that band too. The Eckstine Band was
the first to establish a policy of playing the new music in solos
and arrangements.
In September 1944 Parker made his first small combo recordings
with Tiny Grimes. More small group recordings (7 tunes) were made
with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet in February and May of 1945.
Soon after these recordings
were made Bird & Diz became the focal points for the new music
that was beginning to be heard in the clubs on 52nd Street in
New York City. They enjoyed the respect of younger musicians but
the music did not reach a wide listening public and it received
negative criticism from jazz writers. Parker joined Gillespie
for gigs in California but the climate for the new music wasn't
any better there and Bird 's drug addiction grew, leading to a
nervous breakdown. He was placed in Camarillo State Hospital.
He returned to LA and recorded Relaxin' at Camarillo with
Erroll Garner and returned to the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet.
In 1949 he toured with Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic
and lead his own ensembles with various trumpet players: Miles
Davis (he recorded with Miles on Dial), Red Rodney and Kenny Dorham.
His rhythm sections included pianists Duke Jordan and Al Haig,
piano; Tommy Potter, bass; Max Roach and Roy Haynes, drums.
In May of 1949 he made his first trip overseas to the Paris Jazz
Festival. In November 1950 he toured Scandinavia.
He went through several cycles of addiction and illness right
up to his death in 1955. Just before his death he appeared in
concert at Town Hall and played as well as he ever had.
If the word genius applies to anyone it certainly applies to Charlie
Parker. His inspiration, soul, warmth, excitement, wit and beauty
are respected universally by musicians. He had little formal training
but was a musician of amazing technical skill. He was a fast reader
and a gifted arranger and composer. He was the first jazz musician
to record with woodwinds and strings (from the Boston Symphony
- "men from Koussevitzky's band" as he put it) in 1950.
He set a new standard for jazz improvisation and influenced musicians
on every instrument. From the mid-1940s it was impossible for
a jazz musician to escape the influence of Bird. He set a new
standard for the way jazz was to be played harmonically, tonally,
rhythmically and melodically.
Lennie Tristano said, "If Charlie wanted to invoke plagiarism laws, he could sue almost everybody who's made a record in the last ten years."
His best known works are Now's
the Time sometimes called Red Cross and later used
for the pop hit Hucklebuck, Yardbird Suite, Confirmation
and Relaxin' at Camarillo.