Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Bird
Here's a tribute to a great jazzman from a great jazz fan.
Charlie "Bird" Parker
1920 - 1955
Jazz Great
Charles Christopher "Bird" Parker, Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas August 29, 1920. At age seven, Parker came to Kansas City, Missouri and began studying music. "When he was only a child, he wanted to be a music maker," said his mother. He played baritone horn as a freshman at Lincoln High School. By age 15, he was serious about the alto sax. A year later, at age 16, Parker left school and put his age up four years to join the Local 627, a musician's union.
In 1937, he was playing in Kansas City with Jay McShann. That same year he and his first wife Rebecca had a son. Two years later he met the legendary Dizzy Gillespie. The year following, at age 20, Parker said goodbye to Kansas City, heading for the Big Apple.
In New York, he went from marriage to marriage, from alcohol to drugs. Meanwhile, he played alto sax with the greats-Earl "Fatha" Hines, Cootie Williams, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie. Parker was versatile. He played tenor sax, doubled on clarinet and experimented on practically every brass and woodwind known. Parker is credited as an originator of bebop, the jazz style that followed the big band swing era.
New York audiences were far more receptive to the new Bebop jazz style than their Los Angeles counterparts during 1945-46. Bird's dependence on drugs increased while playing for hostile California crowds with Dizzy Gillespie's trio and this self-destructive course climaxed in his first suicide attempt. A stay of seven months in Camarillo State Hospital followed. He bounced back, and two years later was leading his own group on the West Coast. In New York City, Birdland opened in 1949. That dance hall immortalized his name and his inimitable style. Another suicide attempt placed him in Bellevue Hospital in 1954. Amazingly, the following year he played again at Birdland. It was his last engagement, however. The next week he died of heart failure, pneumonia, and cirrhosis of the liver.
During his short life span of 34 years, Charlie Parker's musical genius brought new innovation to jazz music. His funeral was held in Harlem, but he was brought back to Kansas City for burial in Lincoln Cemetery. A sculpture in his honor is located in the city's Historic 18th and Vine District.
Written by Elonda Clay
Charlie "Bird" Parker
1920 - 1955
Jazz Great
Charles Christopher "Bird" Parker, Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas August 29, 1920. At age seven, Parker came to Kansas City, Missouri and began studying music. "When he was only a child, he wanted to be a music maker," said his mother. He played baritone horn as a freshman at Lincoln High School. By age 15, he was serious about the alto sax. A year later, at age 16, Parker left school and put his age up four years to join the Local 627, a musician's union.
In 1937, he was playing in Kansas City with Jay McShann. That same year he and his first wife Rebecca had a son. Two years later he met the legendary Dizzy Gillespie. The year following, at age 20, Parker said goodbye to Kansas City, heading for the Big Apple.
In New York, he went from marriage to marriage, from alcohol to drugs. Meanwhile, he played alto sax with the greats-Earl "Fatha" Hines, Cootie Williams, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie. Parker was versatile. He played tenor sax, doubled on clarinet and experimented on practically every brass and woodwind known. Parker is credited as an originator of bebop, the jazz style that followed the big band swing era.
New York audiences were far more receptive to the new Bebop jazz style than their Los Angeles counterparts during 1945-46. Bird's dependence on drugs increased while playing for hostile California crowds with Dizzy Gillespie's trio and this self-destructive course climaxed in his first suicide attempt. A stay of seven months in Camarillo State Hospital followed. He bounced back, and two years later was leading his own group on the West Coast. In New York City, Birdland opened in 1949. That dance hall immortalized his name and his inimitable style. Another suicide attempt placed him in Bellevue Hospital in 1954. Amazingly, the following year he played again at Birdland. It was his last engagement, however. The next week he died of heart failure, pneumonia, and cirrhosis of the liver.
During his short life span of 34 years, Charlie Parker's musical genius brought new innovation to jazz music. His funeral was held in Harlem, but he was brought back to Kansas City for burial in Lincoln Cemetery. A sculpture in his honor is located in the city's Historic 18th and Vine District.
Written by Elonda Clay
Thursday, March 04, 2004
The Last of the Blue Devils
If you haven't seen the movie titled "The Last of the Blue Devis" you have missed one of the best jazz documentaries ever. Here is what Sam Graham has to say about this fine film.
Kansas City in the 1930s was a wild, wide-open place. Under political boss Tom Pendergast, the booze flowed freely, prostitution and gambling flourished, and the Depression pretty much passed the city by, making it an ideal spawning ground for some great music. Pianist-bandleader Count Basie, saxophone immortals Lester Young and Charlie Parker, and blues belters Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing were all working there, along with a host of lesser- known but equally formidable musicians, and they all played the blues, Kansas City style.
Director Bruce Ricker's 90-minute The Last of the Blue Devils chronicles the 1979 reunion of many of these legendary players, combining interviews, vintage film footage, photos, and some inimitably swinging performances by Basie, Turner, pianist Jay McShann, and many others to create an intimate, good- natured portrait of what one old-timer calls the "cool, relaxed sound" of the city. The camaraderie among these men, all of whom are colorful raconteurs (drummer Ernie Williams's harangues to some bemused local kids are especially entertaining), is palpable. But it's the music, unsurprisingly, that's the main attraction; performances include some familiar tunes, like Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll" and a Basie big band version of "Night Train" (featuring tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, the tune's composer) that's as greasy as the local barbecue. The Last of the Blue Devils is an absolute delight. --Sam Graham
Kansas City in the 1930s was a wild, wide-open place. Under political boss Tom Pendergast, the booze flowed freely, prostitution and gambling flourished, and the Depression pretty much passed the city by, making it an ideal spawning ground for some great music. Pianist-bandleader Count Basie, saxophone immortals Lester Young and Charlie Parker, and blues belters Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing were all working there, along with a host of lesser- known but equally formidable musicians, and they all played the blues, Kansas City style.
Director Bruce Ricker's 90-minute The Last of the Blue Devils chronicles the 1979 reunion of many of these legendary players, combining interviews, vintage film footage, photos, and some inimitably swinging performances by Basie, Turner, pianist Jay McShann, and many others to create an intimate, good- natured portrait of what one old-timer calls the "cool, relaxed sound" of the city. The camaraderie among these men, all of whom are colorful raconteurs (drummer Ernie Williams's harangues to some bemused local kids are especially entertaining), is palpable. But it's the music, unsurprisingly, that's the main attraction; performances include some familiar tunes, like Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll" and a Basie big band version of "Night Train" (featuring tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, the tune's composer) that's as greasy as the local barbecue. The Last of the Blue Devils is an absolute delight. --Sam Graham
