Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker is a jazz alto saxophonist and composer from Kansas City, United States. Born in 1920 and dying in 1955, he is widely associated with bebop and is also linked with cool jazz and jazz more broadly. He is known by the nickname “Bird”, and also as “Yardbird” or “Yard”, a name that remains connected to his career and later titles inspired by it, including “Ornithology” and “Yardbird Suite”.

Career and style

Parker is a founding figure of bebop and is regarded as one of the most important saxophonists in jazz. His approach to melody, rhythm and harmony has had a major influence on later jazz musicians. Several of his compositions become standards, and his work is studied and absorbed by many other players.

His reputation also places him within the broader history of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than simply a popular entertainer. He is also an icon of the Beat generation.

Collaborations and groups

He appears as a member of a number of ensembles, including Dizzy Gillespie Sextet, Charlie Parker’s Ree Boppers, Charlie Parker and His Orchestra, Jay McShann & His Orchestra, Charlie Parker Sextet, Charlie Parker Quintet, Red Norvo & His Selected Sextet, Dizzy Gillespie Jazzmen, Charlie Parker Septet, Dizzy Gillespie’s All-Star Quintet, Charlie Parker Quartet, Miles Davis All Stars, Charlie Parker Big Band, Red Norvo All-Stars, Charlie Parker's Jazzers and Dizzy Gillespie’s Rebop Six.

Parker also records with Latin music figures such as Machito, and he pursues links with classical music, including an interest in studying with Edgard Varèse and Stefan Wolpe.

Nickname, recordings and legacy

Parker’s nickname appears in the New York nightclub Birdland, which opens in his honour in 1949. George Shearing later writes “Lullaby of Birdland”, named for both Parker and the club. After his death, “Bird lives” appears in graffiti in New York and later becomes the title of a 1999 art work by Robert Graham; Ted Joans is usually credited with originating the phrase.

One of the best-known live documents associated with him is Jazz at Massey Hall, which records a Toronto concert and is regarded as one of the great live jazz recordings.

Performance and later life

Parker is also known for arriving at performances without his own instrument and borrowing one at the last moment. At times he plays a plastic Grafton saxophone, including at the Toronto concert documented on Jazz at Massey Hall, after his own saxophone is sold before the show.

His later life is marked by alcoholism and heroin addiction, and he dies of pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer in 1955.