Charlie “Bird, ” Parker the Man, the Myth, the Legend, the Addict...
Charlie “Bird,” Parker
The Man, The Myth, The Legend,
The Addict... Charles parker was a brilliant jazz musician. He was so innovative and played with such genius that he has influenced all jazz musicians regardless of their time period. One can only speculate what might have happened with Jazz if Charles' life was not cut short due to intense drug use as was so common in the musician scene. Then again one can only speculate weather or not Charles' Jazz would have been as great as it was if it were not for the drugs that he consumed on a daily basis. Did the drugs make Charles' Jazz what it was or did the man have the built in ability to squeeze the perfect notes out of a saxophone making it do his will without hardly having to give it a thought. On August the 29th in the year of 1920 a baby was born to a family in Kansas City, Kansas. The child's name was Charles Parker Jr. He was the newborn son of Adelaide (“Addie”) Bailey Parker, who was African-American-Choctaw, and Charles Parker, Sr., an African-American. His mother migrated to Kansas City from Oklahoma where she met Charles Parker Sr. Charles Sr. had been in Mississippi and Tennessee and had come to Kansas to pursue a career as an entertainer. Charles Sr. and Addie separated leaving Charles without a father figure. Charles Sr. never realized his dream of becoming an entertainer and is reported to have been working on a train as a waiter or chef when he died. At the age of 15 Charles began to show a great interest in music. He joined the school band where he was given an alto horn but soon switched to the baritone horn and soon developed a love for the alto saxophone. His mother had more idealized views of Charles' academics then those that are given by the school and friends. A Fellow Student, Lawrence Keyes was quoted as saying, “If he had been as conscientious about his school work as he was his music, he would have become a professor, but he was a terrible truant . . . he was doomed to be a
The Man, The Myth, The Legend,
The Addict... Charles parker was a brilliant jazz musician. He was so innovative and played with such genius that he has influenced all jazz musicians regardless of their time period. One can only speculate what might have happened with Jazz if Charles' life was not cut short due to intense drug use as was so common in the musician scene. Then again one can only speculate weather or not Charles' Jazz would have been as great as it was if it were not for the drugs that he consumed on a daily basis. Did the drugs make Charles' Jazz what it was or did the man have the built in ability to squeeze the perfect notes out of a saxophone making it do his will without hardly having to give it a thought. On August the 29th in the year of 1920 a baby was born to a family in Kansas City, Kansas. The child's name was Charles Parker Jr. He was the newborn son of Adelaide (“Addie”) Bailey Parker, who was African-American-Choctaw, and Charles Parker, Sr., an African-American. His mother migrated to Kansas City from Oklahoma where she met Charles Parker Sr. Charles Sr. had been in Mississippi and Tennessee and had come to Kansas to pursue a career as an entertainer. Charles Sr. and Addie separated leaving Charles without a father figure. Charles Sr. never realized his dream of becoming an entertainer and is reported to have been working on a train as a waiter or chef when he died. At the age of 15 Charles began to show a great interest in music. He joined the school band where he was given an alto horn but soon switched to the baritone horn and soon developed a love for the alto saxophone. His mother had more idealized views of Charles' academics then those that are given by the school and friends. A Fellow Student, Lawrence Keyes was quoted as saying, “If he had been as conscientious about his school work as he was his music, he would have become a professor, but he was a terrible truant . . . he was doomed to be a
Cited: Reisner, Robert George. Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker. A Da Capo Paperback, 1975. Priestle, Brian. Chasin the Bird. Oxford University Press, Inc. 2005 “They can get it out of your blood, but they can 't get it out of your mind – Charlie Parker” 2005. Bird Lives. 20 June. 2006 . “About Charlie “Yardbird” Parker” 2006. The Official Site of Charlie Parker 20 June. 2006 .