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Charlie Parker at 100: Part 3

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In celebration of Charlie Parker's centenary on August 29, I'm spending the week posting on five major accomplishments by the alto saxophonist. On Monday, I posted about Parker's invention with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945 of a transformative genre of improvised jazz that became known as bebop. On Tuesday, I posted about Parker's popularization of high-speed and complex improvisation. Today, I'm looking at Parker's unique ability to make the blues charismatic and seductive with his round tone and fluidity.

In the late 1920s and '30s, exceptional and enterprising blues artists such as W.C. Handy, Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson (above) and Lead Belly among hundreds of other blues musicians moved North to record and find work performing. Thousands of other blues musician did the same as part of the Great Migration. But not all wound up with their names on shellac 78s or in lights. Many Delta blues artists moved to cities, where they shared what they knew about with other Black musicians.  

One of these cities was Kansas City, which in the 1930s was known for two things: butchering livestock and vice. Despite Prohibition, the city's political boss, Tom Pendergast, allowed bribes to be paid to the police to ensure they permitted drinking and gambling. Like Chicago of the 1920s, Kansas City in the 1930s was a hotbed of clubs, and where there were clubs there was jazz and dancing.

Born in Kansas City, Charlie Parker practiced the saxophone voraciously before hanging around clubs listening to the happy blues of the Count Basie and Bennie Moten big bands. He played in territory bands but an auto accident in 1936 resulted in the need for pain killers. So began a storied drug habit.

In New York in 1939, Parker washed dishes in a restaurant that featured pianist Art Tatum (above). Seeing Tatum play at impossible speeds was another musical revelation for Parker. Back in Kansas City in 1940, Parker joined Jay McShann's band. He also met Dizzy Gillespie. Parker left McShann in 1942 to join Earl “Fatha" Hines's band with Gillespie, and hespent his free time at jam sessions in Harlem clubs.

Parker's exposure to upbeat Kansas City swing and other varied musical experiences gave him a new feel for the blues. His approach was a fusing of country and city, taking what he heard in Kansas City and surrounding towns and adding the urbanity of New York and Los Angeles. The result was a new way of approaching the blues—not as a coarse folk form but a more polished, optimistic and cosmopolitan sound.

Here are 10 original blues by Parker that he expressed with a new instrumental lyricism:

Here's Cool Blues from February 19, 1947, with Charlie Parker (as), Erroll Garner (p), Red Callender (b) and Harold “Doc" West (d)...



Here's Parker's Mood from September 18, 1948, with Charlie Parker (as), John Lewis (p), Curly Russell (b) and Max Roach (d)...



Here's She Rote from January 17, 1951, with Miles Davis (tp), Charlie Parker (as), Walter Bishop, Jr. (p), Teddy Kotick (b) and Max Roach (d)...



Here's Blues for Alice from August 8, 1951, with Red Rodney (tp), Charlie Parker (as), John Lewis (p), Ray Brown (b) and Kenny Clarke (d)...



Here's Back Home Blues on August 8, 1951, with Red Rodney (tp), Charlie Parker (as), John Lewis (p), Ray Brown (b) and Kenny Clarke (d)...



Here's Kim from December 30, 1952, with Charlie Parker (as), Hank Jones (p), Teddy Kotick (b) and Max Roach (d)...



Here's Laird Baird from December 30, 1952, with Charlie Parker (as), Hank Jones (p), Teddy Kotick (b) and Max Roach (d)...



Here's Now's the Time from July 30, 1953, with Charlie Parker (as), Al Haig (p), Percy Heath (b) and Max Roach (d)...



And here's Confirmation from July 30, 1953, with Charlie Parker (as), Al Haig (p), Percy Heath (b) and Max Roach (d)...

Continue Reading...

This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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