(August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955)
AKA
"Bird," "Yardbird"
Charles Parker Jr was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader, and composer. Parker was named "Yardbird" early in his career while touring. He had expressed in killing, cooking and eating some pigeons he saw while talking with other band members. The shortened form "Bird" stayed with him for the rest of his life and into history.
A great deal of research has been done into Parker's playing style and biography. His primary influence was his mentor Buster Smith, who influenced his use of time and rhythmic subdivisions. Another key influence was Lester Young, not only in terms of the melodic phrases that Parker absorbed from the tenor saxophonist, but also aesthetically, as a soloist and harmonic improviser.
Parker's sound bears the influence of the great Johnny Hodges, and both alto players famously used a Conn 6M alto saxophone. Parker developed Hodges use of vibrato, using it more discriminately than Hodges. This influence can be heard clearly on Parker's timeless recording Charlie Parker with Strings..
Parker's legendary technical prowess and musical innovations in rhythm, harmony, melody, composition caused him to become a figurehead of the Bebop movement. He continued the lineage of aesthetic transition from Louis Armstrong to Benny Carter to Lester Young of jazz as a solo artistic venture.
His lengthy and artistic solos further changed jazz music and transitioned it away from it functioning as primarily as music for dance, to intellectual artistic music. It should be noted however that both Parker and his longtime friend and collaborator Dizzy Gillespie viewed their work as still being rooted in the tradition of dance. Gillespie himself often danced while not playing.
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