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Bird Lives
By George L. Starks, Jr., Ph.D.
Charles Parker, Jr., was born on August 29, 1920 in
Kansas City, Kansas
and grew up across the river in the fertile musical
environment of Kansas City, Missouri. This was the wide open Kansas City
of the Tom Pendergast Machine during which nightlife flourished. In the
city’s African American neighborhood, so did the music of Bennie Moten,
Andy Kirk, and Walter Page. Count Basie from Red Bank, New Jersey, Lester
Young from Woodville, Mississippi, and Mary Lou Williams from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania took up residence in Kansas City. Theirs was the Kansas City of
all-night jam sessions, riff-based blues, spontaneous “head” arrangements,
and blues shouters - big voiced vocalists who sang the blues.
This was Charlie Parker’s Kansas City. He absorbed it all, particularly the
lessons of residents like tenor saxophonist Young and alto saxophonist
Buster Smith. From guitarist Efferge Ware he learned about chords and their
relationships. Here, he played in the bands of Jay McShann, Tommy Douglas,
and Harlan Leonard. During a road trip with the McShann band, Parker
retrieved a chicken which had been struck and killed by the car in which he
was riding, a retrieval that earned him the moniker “Yardbird.”
But Kansas City could not contain Yardbird. It was in New York during the
1940s that Bird truly spread his wings. He was the perfect example of a prime
axiom of jazz − one must find one’s own voice. It was in Harlem after-hours
sessions at Monroe’s Uptown House and Minton’s Playhouse that he, along
with participants like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, Thelonious Monk, and
Kenny Clarke, found nurturing environments for the development of a new
music known as
bebop
.
Parker’s innovations defined bebop and what came to be called
modern
jazz
. Though rooted in tradition, the chord changes were nevertheless
dramatic. On many levels the music became more complex. Parker’s music
demonstrated great harmonic acuity. He altered chords, developed new
progressions, and substituted chords with substitutes! In pre-composed
melodies and in improvisations, his work featured melodic twists and turns
that were completely
new. Front line instruments
interacted with rhythm
sections in new and
dramatic ways; pianists
comped and drummers
played polyrhythmically.
He brought a new timbre
to the alto saxophone
and other saxophonists
followed his lead. Most
of all, the rhythmic
sophistication that he
brought to his music was
unlike that of anyone who had preceded him.
The musical tradition of jazz has always been responsive to, and reflective
of, the socio-cultural environment in which it is situated. Parker’s music gave
voice to much of what was felt in this country during the 1940s. This was
particularly true of the African American community. Participation in the
war effort led the black community to expect fundamental change in that
community’s position in American society. New times demanded new artistic
expression, and bebop was a part of that expression.
Parker’s contributions have been recognized in numerous ways. One of the
first was Birdland, a jazz club in New York City named in his honor, which
opened in 1949. Also, there is an annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in his
adopted hometown of New York City, and a Charlie Parker Memorial
sculpture in Kansas City. Largely as a result of the role it played in the
development of bebop, Minton’s Playhouse is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
Dead at the age of 34, Parker had an enormous influence that has
extended far beyond his lifetime. Much in the sense that Parker found
his voice by studying the music of Lester Young, Buster Smith, and Chu
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