What is the best biography of Charlie Parker?
Revised in 2013, Gary Giddins’s slim study (first published in 1987) remains the best single-volume examination of Parker’s life and art, a welcome corrective to sensationalist works like Ross Russell’s 1965 biography “Charlie Parker: His Life and Hard Times.” As focused as a Bird solo on a Savoy 78, Giddins eschews …
What was Charlie Parker’s most famous piece?
In 1946, Charlie Parker recorded “Yardbird Suite.” At around the first minute of Take 4 from the Savoy session – arguably the most famous recording of the composition – Parker plays a notable riff that is among the most famous and quoted in jazz history.
How many hours did Charlie Parker practice?
In an interview with Paul Desmond, Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.
What is Charlie Parker famous for?
Charlie Parker, byname of Charles Parker, Jr., also called Bird or Yardbird, (born August 29, 1920, Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.—died March 12, 1955, New York City, New York), American alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, a lyric artist generally considered the greatest jazz saxophonist.
Why do they call Charlie Parker Bird?
Around the same time, Charlie picked up his legendary nickname. Although there are several legends concerning the origin of Parker’s nickname, most of them relate to his voracious appetite for chicken, which he called “yardbird.” Charlie’s bandmates started calling him “Yardbird,” and eventually shortened it to “Bird.”
How did Charlie Parker learn jazz?
Charlie developed as a musician by playing with different groups in public eating and drinking places called nightclubs. He also learned by listening to older local jazz musicians.
Did John Coltrane fight in ww2?
However, before the genius of his musical talent could surface, he enlisted in the US Navy to serve his country during World War II. Born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926, Coltrane’s family moved to High Point when he was a child.
What is the difference between bop and bebop?
bebop, also called bop, the first kind of modern jazz, which split jazz into two opposing camps in the last half of the 1940s. The word is an onomatopoeic rendering of a staccato two-tone phrase distinctive in this type of music.