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"Bird Lives," (sculpture of Charlie "Bird" Parker) by Robert Graham (sculptor), 1999

Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Parker is widely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career,^[1] and the shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's sobriquet for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as " Yardbird Suite" and "Ornithology."

Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries. Several of Parker's songs have become standards, including "Billie's Bounce," "Anthropology," "Ornithology," and "Confirmation". He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines — such as "Koko," "Kim," and "Leap Frog" — he was also one of the great blues players. His themeless blues improvisation "Parker's Mood" represents one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Parker fused jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.

Parker also became an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer.

[edit] Charlie Parker-Coleman Hawkins: Ballade

[edit] Discography

Parker made extensive recordings for three labels — Savoy and Dial best document his early work, while Verve is representative of his later career:

• Savoy (1944-1949)
• Dial (1945-1947)
• Verve (1946-1954)

Many live recordings, of varying quality, are also available. A small selection of the many are listed below:

• Live at Townhall w. Dizzy (1945, first released in 2005)
• Bird and Diz Carnegie Hall (1947)
• Bird on 52nd Street (1948)
• Jazz at the Philharmonic (1949)
• Charlie Parker All Stars Live at the Royal Roost (1949)
• Charlie Parker with Strings (1950, first released in 1981)
• One Night in Birdland (1950)
• Bird at the High Hat (1953)
• Charlie Parker at Storyville (1953)
• Jazz at Massey Hall (1953)

Special mention should be made of the legendary Dean Benedetti recordings, a huge trove of live material recorded by an obsessive fan. Long thought lost or merely mythical, these eventually resurfaced and were released as a set by Mosaic Records.

[edit] Sources

• 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 0-688-05950-3.
• Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55555-384-1.
• Reisner, 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 0-306-80679-7.
• Woideck, Carl (1998). Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08555-7
• Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864714-9.
• Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, 2005. Originally published in 1955.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Charlie Parker discography
• Charlie Parker Sessionography
• The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
• Clips and notes about Parker
• Bird Lives - A Charlie Parker Site
• Charlie Parker For Guitar
• Kerouac Alley - Charlie Parker directory
• Charlie Parker at Find A Grave
• Peter King plays Parker's Grafton saxophone at Christie's auction house
• "Is Bird Dead?" by Ted Gioia (Jazz.com)