Charlie Parker was the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. Charlie Parker was one of the most important saxophonists in jazz history and he influenced many saxophonists.
When Parker was small, his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where jazz, blues and gospel music were blooming full of. He first played the saxophone in school and he played the baritone saxophone, later he played the alto saxophone. When he was 15, he showed a great interest in music and the saxophone. After that, Parker was playing with local bands until 1935, and he left school to pursue a music career.
During 1935 to 1939, Parker played in Kansas City with many local jazz and blues bands, he developed his own style and his art there. In 1939, Parker visited New York for the first time, and he stayed for nearly a year working as a professional musician and frequently playing in jazz sessions. The New York atmosphere greatly changed and developed Parker\\\'s style.
In 1938, Parker joined the band of pianist Jay McShann, the band toured around Southwest Chicago and New York. After a year, Parker traveled to Chicago and was a regular saxophonist at a club on 55th street. Parker soon moved to New York. When he was not playing the saxophone, he washed dishes at a local food place where he met guitarist Biddy Fleet, who taught him about instrumental harmony. Shortly afterwards, Parker returned to Kansas City to attend his fatherˇ¦s funeral. Once he was at Kansas City, he joined Harlan Leonardˇ¦s Rockets and stayed for five months. In 1939, Parker rejoined McShann and was placed in charge of reed instruments. Then, in 1940, Parker made his first recording with the McShann orchestra.
During the four years that Parker stayed with the band, he got the opportunity to perform solo in many of their recordings. He performed on songs such as, Hootie Blues, Sepian Blues and Confessing the Blues.During 1942, when Parker was on tour with McShann, Parker performed in jam sessions at Monroeˇ¦s and Mintonˇ¦s. He caught attention of jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie and others. Later that year, Parker left McShann\\\'s band and joined Earl Hines Band for 8 months.
The year 1945 was like a peak of his lifetime for Parker. During that time he led his own trio in New York and also worked with Gillespie in several ensembles. In the month of December, Parker and Gillespie travelled to Hollywood and they performed on a six-week nightclub tour. Charlie Parker took drugs, and that made him have an amoral life. Dizzy Gillespie stopped playing with Charlie Parker because of that reason. Parker continued to perform in Los Angeles until June 1946, when he suffered a nervous breakdown from taking drugs and was had to stay at the hospital for a few months. Parker fully recovered on January 1947, so Parker returned to New York and formed a quintet that performed some of Parker\\\'s most famous tunes.
During the years 1947 to 1951, Parker worked in a number of nightclubs and radio studio\\\'s and played solo with the accompaniant of other musicians. During that time period, he visited Europe where he was cheered by his fans. On March 5, 1955, Parker played for his last time in public, a nightclub in New York that was named in his honor named Birland. A week later, Parker passed away in a friend\\\'s apartment.
Charlie Parker was one of the world\\\'s best saxophonists, and will continue to be the great Charlie Parker in our hearts.
James D
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