Charlie Parker
Alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker (1920–1955), arguably the greatest of all jazz soloists, one of the founders of bebop, was born in Kansas City, and it was there that he began his musical career. In his teens he played locally with the bands of Lawrence "88" Keyes, George E. Lee, Harlan Leonard, and Jay McShann. His major influences at that time were altoist Buster Smith and the great, innovative tenor man, Lester Young. Parker left Kansas City and showed up in New York in 1938 or ’39. For some months he played in a group at Monroe’s Uptown House in Harlem, exchanging ideas with the progressive young musicians he worked or jammed with. In 1940 he landed another job with McShann, and his first recorded solos with the Kansas City-based bandleader were fully evolved bop, though his playing was to become even more complex in the future. After leaving McShann, Parker continued to work with big bands, including Earl Hines’s in 1943 and Billy Eckstine’s in 1944. Eckstine’s band was the first to feature bop solos, vocals, and arrangements. In 1945 Bird and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, the other major founder of the bop movement, cut some small-group records which were quite influential in turning on jazz musicians and fans to bop. They exhibited enormous drive and dazzling technical prowess. Harmonically and rhythmically their playing was more complex and advanced than jazz solos had ever been. In addition, Parker unveiled a unique, hard tone, sometimes bittersweet at slow tempos, which contrasted strikingly with the lush sounds of established alto greats Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter. In late ’45 Parker went to California, where he played with Gillespie at a club named Billy Berg’s. From all accounts, Parker’s stay on the West Coast was an unhappy one. The jazz audience was not as quick to catch on to his innovations as they had been in New York, and Bird took refuge in alcohol and narcotics. As a result, on July 29, 1946, Parker collapsed during a recording date for the Dial label and had to spend six months in Camarillo State Hospital. Parker recorded a good deal with quintets, featuring trumpeters Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, or Red Rodney, in the late Forties and early Fifties for Dial, Verve, and Savoy Records. He played in a variety of settings for Verve: with a string orchestra, with a vocal chorus, in small combos (including a wonderful reunion date with Gillespie), as a member of all-star groups, and in Afro-Cuban contexts. During the Fifties, Parker continued his top-notch playing but his health steadily deteriorated. Finally, in March 1955, he collapsed and died while watching a television show featuring the Dorsey brothers playing big-band themes. Bird’s influence on other musicians was enormous. Among the outstanding jazzmen he marked were altoist Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Stitt; tenormen Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, and Sonny Rollins; baritonists Serge Chaloff and Leo Parker; and trumpeters Davis, Dorham, and Rodney. Pianists Al Haig and Bud Powell and vibraphonist Milt Jackson also employed ideas taken from Parker’s vocabulary. Pianist Lennie Tristano said decades ago that if Parker wanted to invoke plagiarism laws "he could sue almost everybody who has made a record in the past ten years." Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but it gives an idea how pervasive Bird’s innovations are. Harvey Pekar Excerpted from The Essential Charlie Parker Photo by Herman Leonard, courtesy of the Verve Music Group
ALBUM
Una raccolta completa degli album di Charlie Parker, dalle prime produzioni ai successi più recenti.
Charlie Parker
Ornithology: The Best Of Bird
Charlie Parker
Bird In LA
Charlie Parker, Lester Young
Bird & Pres at JAPT (Jazz At The Philharmonic)
Charlie Parker
The Magnificent Charlie Parker
Black VinylCharlie Parker
The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection
Charlie Parker
The Genius Of Charlie Parker No. 7: Jazz Perennial
Charlie Parker
Night And Day: The Genius Of Charlie Parker #1
Charlie Parker
Swedish Schnapps: The Genius Of Charlie Parker #8
Expanded EditionCharlie Parker
Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter: The Genius of Charlie Parker #5
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie
Bird And Diz
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie
Bird & Diz
Charlie Parker
The Genius Of Charlie Parker #1: Night And Day
96kHz/24-bit/Reissue
Charlie Parker
Talkin' Bird
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Jazz 'Round Midnight
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker For Lovers
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Bird's Best Bop On Verve
ReissueCharlie Parker
Big Band
Reissue
Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker Quartet
Bird: The Original Recordings Of Charlie Parker
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker: Ken Burns's Jazz
Reissue
Charlie Parker
20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection - The Best Of Charlie Parker
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Jazz At The Philharmonic 1949
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Compact Jazz: Charlie Parker Plays The Blues
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Compact Jazz
ReissueDizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker
Bird And Diz
Reissue
Charlie Parker
The Complete Verve Master Takes
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Ultimate Charlie Parker
Reissue
Charlie Parker
South Of The Border
Reissue
Charlie Parker
The Cole Porter Songbook
Reissue
Charlie Parker
The Essential Charlie Parker
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker On Verve
Pt.10
Charlie Parker
Confirmation: The Best Of The Verve Years
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker With Strings: Complete Master Takes
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Reissue
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker Jam Session
ReissueCharlie Parker
The Genius Of Charlie Parker #2: April In Paris
MFiTCharlie Parker
April In Paris: The Genius Of Charlie Parker #2
96kHz/24-bitCharlie Parker
Unheard Bird: The Unissued Takes
Charlie Parker
5 Original Albums
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker: Verve Ultimate Cool
Charlie Parker
Now's The Time (Jazz Club)
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell
The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall
Limited Edition
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker With Strings
Classics International VersionCharlie Parker
The Best Of Charlie Parker 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection
Charlie Parker
The Washington Concerts
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker At Storyville
SINGOLI
I singoli più rappresentativi di Charlie Parker, tra successi storici e nuove uscite.
BIOGRAFIA
Alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker (1920–1955), arguably the greatest of all jazz soloists, one of the founders of bebop, was born in Kansas City, and it was there that he began his musical career. In his teens he played locally with the bands of Lawrence "88" Keyes, George E. Lee, Harlan Leonard, and Jay McShann. His major influences at that time were altoist Buster Smith and the great, innovative tenor man, Lester Young.
Parker left Kansas City and showed up in New York in 1938 or ’39. For some months he played in a group at Monroe’s Uptown House in Harlem, exchanging ideas with the progressive young musicians he worked or jammed with. In 1940 he landed another job with McShann, and his first recorded solos with the Kansas City-based bandleader were fully evolved bop, though his playing was to become even more complex in the future. After leaving McShann, Parker continued to work with big bands, including Earl Hines’s in 1943 and Billy Eckstine’s in 1944. Eckstine’s band was the first to feature bop solos, vocals, and arrangements.
In 1945 Bird and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, the other major founder of the bop movement, cut some small-group records which were quite influential in turning on jazz musicians and fans to bop. They exhibited enormous drive and dazzling technical prowess. Harmonically and rhythmically their playing was more complex and advanced than jazz solos had ever been. In addition, Parker unveiled a unique, hard tone, sometimes bittersweet at slow tempos, which contrasted strikingly with the lush sounds of established alto greats Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter.
In late ’45 Parker went to California, where he played with Gillespie at a club named Billy Berg’s. From all accounts, Parker’s stay on the West Coast was an unhappy one. The jazz audience was not as quick to catch on to his innovations as they had been in New York, and Bird took refuge in alcohol and narcotics. As a result, on July 29, 1946, Parker collapsed during a recording date for the Dial label and had to spend six months in Camarillo State Hospital.
Parker recorded a good deal with quintets, featuring trumpeters Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, or Red Rodney, in the late Forties and early Fifties for Dial, Verve, and Savoy Records. He played in a variety of settings for Verve: with a string orchestra, with a vocal chorus, in small combos (including a wonderful reunion date with Gillespie), as a member of all-star groups, and in Afro-Cuban contexts.
During the Fifties, Parker continued his top-notch playing but his health steadily deteriorated. Finally, in March 1955, he collapsed and died while watching a television show featuring the Dorsey brothers playing big-band themes.
Bird’s influence on other musicians was enormous. Among the outstanding jazzmen he marked were altoist Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Stitt; tenormen Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, and Sonny Rollins; baritonists Serge Chaloff and Leo Parker; and trumpeters Davis, Dorham, and Rodney. Pianists Al Haig and Bud Powell and vibraphonist Milt Jackson also employed ideas taken from Parker’s vocabulary.
Pianist Lennie Tristano said decades ago that if Parker wanted to invoke plagiarism laws "he could sue almost everybody who has made a record in the past ten years." Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but it gives an idea how pervasive Bird’s innovations are.
Harvey Pekar
Excerpted from The Essential Charlie Parker
Photo by Herman Leonard, courtesy of the Verve Music Group
