Charlie Parker

Musician

• Born: August 29, 1920
• Birthplace: Kansas City, Kansas
• Died: March 12, 1955
• Place of death: New York, New York

Jazz musician

As a cocreator of the bebop genre, Parker helped to extend the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic language of jazz and set a standard for virtuosity on the alto saxophone. His innovative themes, often composed within the shells of preexisting popular forms, added hundreds of pieces to the jazz repertoire.

Area of achievement: Music: jazz

Early Life

Although Charles Parker, Jr., was born in Kansas City, Kansas, his family soon moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Parker grew up. He had no siblings other than an older half brother, and even before Parker’s parents separated, his father was often away, working as an entertainer or a chef. Parker was raised primarily by his mother, who cleaned a Western Union office at night. He was exposed to music in the school system and dropped out of high school to play alto saxophone full time, trying to learn what he could from friends. Fortunately for the young musician, his hometown was one of the most important centers for the development of jazz at the time, with an environment that attracted some of the best players from all over the country. The primary vehicle for interactions among professional and amateur jazz musicians in Kansas City was the jam session, within which improvising musicians would compete, try out new ideas, refine their skills, and build their reputations. At one of these sessions, the very young Parker was humbled by his more experienced elders when he faltered during the harmonic changes to the bridge, or contrasting section, of a standard progression. After this experience, he practiced even more diligently and spent most of his waking hours on music. He acquired a nickname, “Yardbird,” which later was shortened to “Bird.”

Life’s Work

During these intense practice sessions, Parker began to form new melodies by working with the upper structures of chords. Gradually, as he worked with jazz and blues bands, his sphere of activities widened, and in 1938 he joined Jay McShann’s band, which took him to Chicago and New York. Parker loved New York and decided to move there permanently, even though he had very limited resources and occasionally had to work outside music. In New York, he met other talented young musicians, including trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, with whom he played in Earl Hines’s band in December, 1942. Along with their paid engagements, Parker, Gillespie, and others, including pianist Thelonious Monk and guitarist Charlie Christian, maintained a rigorous schedule of late-night jam sessions in small Harlem nightclubs, working out new ways of playing. Parker and his new colleagues still incorporated key elements of the Kansas City style, allowing the bass to set the pulse, leaving a lot of space in the texture, and freeing the musicians to play at ever more rapid tempos. Unfortunately, because of a recording strike, the early examples of this new musical style were not preserved. In the intellectual environment of New York, the musicians took themselves seriously as artists and moved away from the comedic stereotypes prevalent in earlier periods of jazz.

One of the hallmarks of Parker’s work was his gift for creating new, much more complex melodies over a stock chord progression, often inserting more chords into the progression by subdividing its harmonic rhythm. Since most professional jazz musicians were already familiar with these stock progressions, this practice acted as a kind of entry point into the new style for those able to deal with the radically heightened technical demands of the new “bebop” style. Not only were tempos much faster, but also the chords were more plentiful and dissonant. Melodic patterns incorporated more dissonant leaps. Parker also was fond of quotation and cleverly incorporated snatches of melodies from Western classical themes, popular songs, and other jazz artists into his solos.

In 1945, after the recording strike ended, bebop spread rapidly and Bird soon found himself leading his own groups. He continued to collaborate with Gillespie, making records and giving concerts together. After the pair performed in Los Angeles in December, Parker remained there by himself until he suffered a nervous breakdown. His breakdown and debilitating heroin addiction led to a stay in Camarillo State Hospital from June of 1946 through January of 1947. After detoxifying, Parker returned to New York with renewed energy. During this prolific period, he completed some of his most iconic work and engaged in diverse projects, including experiments with Afro-Cuban styles, a quintet with Miles Davis, and recording with strings. He made many records during this period, and his audience expanded to Europe, which he toured in 1949 and 1950.

Parker returned to heroin, however, and his addiction was made even more dangerous by his heavy use of alcohol. His drug abuse led to the loss of his New York cabaret card, which prevented him from performing in important jazz clubs from 1951 to 1953. Although heavily impaired, Parker continued to play and record until the end of his life in 1955, sometimes with embarrassing results, but often with flashes of brilliance. Days before his death from pneumonia, he performed at Birdland, the New York nightclub named in his honor.

Significance

Soon after Parker’s death, the phrase “Bird Lives” appeared in graffiti in New York. His recordings—even bootleg recordings of poor audio quality—are revered and scrutinized for clues to his artistic process. Studies of his composed themes and improvised melodies, which have inspired generations of musicians, reveal a fascinating architecture in which characteristic phrases are strung together unpredictably but seamlessly, with the careful resolution of dissonance and an abundance of compound structures. In 1988, the film Bird, based on Parker’s life, was released. Musically, his vocabulary has become part of mainstream jazz practice. Today, students all over the world learn his themes, study his solos, and attempt to build on his legacy.

Bibliography

Giddins, Gary. Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. New York: Beech Tree Books, 1987. Contains many photographs, discography, and anecdotes. Giddins also directed a film version of this book.

Koch, Lawrence. Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1988. Focuses on Parker’s recordings with detailed descriptions, musical/critical analysis, and hand-drawn musical illustrations.

Priestley, Brian. Chasin’ the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Written by a jazz musician, this comprehensive work includes a sixty-page discography with updated coverage of Parker’s important noncommercial recordings.

Reisner, George, ed. Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker. New York: Da Capo Press, 1977. A collection of anecdotes from Parker’s family members and musical colleagues. With photographs.

Woideck, Carl. Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. Divided into biographical and analytical sections; includes music transcriptions. The biography addresses some of the myths about Parker’s lifestyle.