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Historical Introduction
On March 9, 1955, on his way to a gig in Boston, jazz great Charlie
Parker stopped at the Stanhope Hotel to visit his friend and jazz patron,
Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter (Nica). He was near death. Years of
heroin addiction, alcoholism, a bad heart, cirrhosis, and depression had
taken their toll. His wife, Chan, had left him and moved to another
state with their remaining children after the devastating death of their
two-year-old daughter, Pree. For the next few days, Nica would try her
best to nurse him back to health, soliciting the help of her physician,
who warned Charlie that he should be hospitalized or risk death, but
Charlie refused. On March 12, while watching television, Charles
Parker, Jr. died. His death certificate stated the cause of death as lobar
pneumonia. He was 34.
The facts about his untimely death and what happened to
him postmortem created quite a media sensation, which followed
the baroness for the rest of her life. These accusations included the
deliberate misidentification of his body with the wrong name and age
on his toe, the amount of time it took to get his body to the morgue
(about five hours), and why Nica did not tell anyone he had died,
allowing his body to lay unclaimed in the morgue for days. Because
Nica was part of the Rothschild family, her actions were attributed to
covering up the scandal of a black man dying in a wealthy, married,
white woman’s hotel suite. Nica vehemently countered, stating she
was only trying to help a sick friend get well, and – when it appeared
that he had died – immediately called the doctor, who returned within
minutes, pronounced him dead, and notified the coroner. He was taken
to Bellevue’s morgue with his correct name.
Nica wanted to find Chan to let her know about his death
first,
from a friendly source,
before
the newspapers or radio announced it
.
She searched all of New York, but Chan had moved to Pennsylvania.
It wasn’t until Nica was able to find and notify Chan’s mother that
Chan found out, adding a day or two more to Charlie’s stay in the
morgue. As soon as Chan claimed his body, however, Charlie’s third
wife, Doris, officially claimed him, because Charlie and Chan had not
legally married. As they fought over his body and later his estate for
decades, Nica was evicted from the Stanhope, a segregated hotel, and
disinherited by her family. Her husband later divorced her. This mother
of five lost custody of her youngest children.
The Opera
Charlie Parker died without writing an autobiography or little else
about himself other than his music. It was an honor writing this opera;
the research needed to complete it relied heavily on biographies and
interviews by other people he knew and loved, i.e., Chan Parker’s
autobiography. We tried to use only actual testimonies by the people
involved, so as to not put words in their mouths.
Imagine having that final opportunity to realize that one last thing
before you die. Charlie Parker often talked about writing new music
for an orchestra of 40 or more. He had already accomplished quite a
bit, but as of March 12, 1955, this had eluded him. As his body lies
misidentified in the morgue, Charlie’s ghost enters Birdland, a 500-seat
club named after him that also featured caged finches inside the club.
Celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Joe Louis could
be seen there regularly. Owning no part of Birdland, Charlie was
kicked out in 1954 by the owner after an altercation with another
musician. On March 4, 1955, he made his final appearance there. Eight
days later he was dead. His spirit now stands in this new Birdland, both
surprised and inspired. Here he will create his new masterpiece, but he
is interrupted by Nica, who suddenly appears, frantic to find his wife,
Chan, so she can tell her about his unfortunate death.
Charlie knows he has a limited amount of time available to write.
Nica, on the other hand, needs Chan to claim Charlie’s body and end
the potential nightmare of the press announcing that he has died in her
hotel suite, forcing the hotel to evict her.
Charlie tries to write, but the notes will not stay on the paper.
As a master of improvisation, he long realized that the 12 semitones of
the chromatic scale could lead melodically to any key, freeing musicians
from the 12-bar blues. But this work must be notated on paper.
Needing a new freedom, Charlie is visited and inspired by people
who have meant much in his life. With the inspiration of his strong
mother Addie, three of his four wives, Rebecca, Doris, and Chan,
and his partner in the jazz revolution that was bebop, Dizzy Gillespie,
Charlie Parker will struggle to calm his demons and write his new
masterpiece before his body is identified in the morgue and this gig
is up forever.
Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD
By Bridgette A. Wimberly
“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.”
— Charlie Parker, Jr.