Parker was born in 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas, and received negligible musical training as a child. As a teenager, however, he began a practice regimen of up to 15 hours a day. In 1937, he got his first big break playing with bandleader Jay McShann.
New York City and Bebop
Two years later Parker moved to New York City. While working as a dishwasher in a nightclub, he was exposed to the music of pianist Art Tatum, who performed there. In 1942, Parker left McShann's band to play with pianist Earl Hines. In that band, he met trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who would become the sax player's long-time musical associate.
Around this time, Parker was playing after-hours jam sessions at the night club Minton's Playhouse with drummer Kenny Clarke, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian and others. Together they were developing a new approach to jazz that came to be known as bebop. More energetic than the big band swing style that was prevalent at the time, bebop featured a new harmonic approach that broke with the straightforward melodies of music from the 1930s.
One of Parker's greatest recording sessions took place in 1945 for the Savoy record label. He recorded "Koko," "Thriving on a Riff," "Now's the Time" and "Billie's Bounce," all original tunes that have become bebop classics.
California and Camarillo
Not long after this, Charlie Parker traveled to California to take a gig in Los Angeles. The engagement turned out badly and the other musicians went back to New York. Parker, however, sold his return ticket and bought heroin, to which he had by then become heavily addicted.
One night, Parker accidentaly lit his hotel room on fire and, according to legend, showed up in the lobby naked. The event led the authorities to commit him to Camarillo, a mental hospital. Shortly afterward, he composed "Relaxin' at Camarillo."
Stardom and Death
In the early 1950s, Charlie Parker was probably the most admired musician in all of jazz. But this also had an adverse effect on many musicians - in emulation of "Bird," many young players developed heroin addictions, hoping that it would inspire them to greater artistic heights.
In 1953, Parker, bass player Charles Mingus, pianist Bud Powell and drummer Max Roach performed a concert at Toronto's Massey Hall. The date was recorded and came to be known as "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever."
Always unpredictable, Charlie Parker became increasingly unstable in the last few years of his life. Frequently late to dates, he would often show up without an instrument, and would have to borrow one from another player. Sax player Jackie McLean claimed that shortly before Parker's death he borrowed McLean's sax and then sold it.
Charlie Parker died in 1955 at the home of musical patron and friend Nica de Koenigswarter watching the Jimmy Dorsey show on TV. The official cause of death was pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, brought on by years of alcohol and substance abuse. Although he was just 34, Parker was estimated to have been 50 to 60 years old by the corner who arrived on the scene.
 |
