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Charlie Parker

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Wikimp3 information about the music of Charlie Parker. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Charlie Parker. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Charlie Parker represents Jazz genres.

Biography

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One of a handful of musicians who can be said to have permanently changed jazz, Charlie Parker was arguably the greatest saxophonist of all time. He could play remarkably fast lines that, if slowed down to half speed, would reveal that every note made sense. "Bird," along with his contemporaries Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, is considered a founder of bebop; in reality he was an intuitive player who simply was expressing himself. Rather than basing his improvisations closely on the melody as was done in swing, he was a master of chordal improvising, creating new melodies that were based on the structure of a song. In fact, Bird wrote several future standards (such as "Anthropology," "Ornithology," "Scrapple from the Apple," and "Ko Ko," along with such blues numbers as "Now's the Time" and "Parker's Mood") that "borrowed" and modernized the chord structures of older tunes. Parker's remarkable technique, fairly original sound, and ability to come up with harmonically advanced phrases that could be both logical and whimsical were highly influential. By 1950, it was impossible to play "modern jazz" with credibility without closely studying Charlie Parker.

Born in Kansas City, KS, Charlie Parker grew up in Kansas City, MO. He first played baritone horn before switching to alto. Parker was so enamored of the rich Kansas City music scene that he dropped out of school when he was 14, even though his musicianship at that point was questionable (with his ideas coming out faster than his fingers could play them). After a few humiliations at jam sessions, Bird worked hard woodshedding over one summer, building up his technique and mastery of the fundamentals. By 1937, when he first joined Jay McShann's Orchestra, he was already a long way toward becoming a major player.

Charlie Parker, who was early on influenced by Lester Young and the sound of Buster Smith, visited New York for the first time in 1939, working as a dishwasher at one point so he could hear Art Tatum play on a nightly basis. He made his recording debut with Jay McShann in 1940, creating remarkable solos with a small group from McShann's orchestra on "Oh, Lady Be Good" and "Honeysuckle Rose." When the McShann big band arrived in New York in 1941, Parker had short solos on a few of their studio blues records, and his broadcasts with the orchestra greatly impressed (and sometimes scared) other musicians who had never heard his ideas before. Parker, who had met and jammed with Dizzy Gillespie for the first time in 1940, had a short stint with Noble Sissle's band in 1942, played tenor with Earl Hines' sadly unrecorded bop band of 1943, and spent a few months in 1944 with Billy Eckstine's orchestra, leaving before that group made their first records. Gillespie was also in the Hines and Eckstine big bands, and the duo became a team starting in late 1944.

Although Charlie Parker recorded with Tiny Grimes' combo in 1944, it was his collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945 that startled the jazz world. To hear the two virtuosos play rapid unisons on such new songs as "Groovin' High," "Dizzy Atmosphere," "Shaw 'Nuff," "Salt Peanuts," and "Hot House," and then launch into fiery and unpredictable solos could be an upsetting experience for listeners much more familiar with Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. Although the new music was evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the recording strike of 1943-1944 resulted in bebop arriving fully formed on records, seemingly out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, Charlie Parker was a heroin addict ever since he was a teenager, and some other musicians who idolized Bird foolishly took up drugs in the hope that it would elevate their playing to his level. When Gillespie and Parker (known as "Diz and Bird") traveled to Los Angeles and were met with a mixture of hostility and indifference (except by younger musicians who listened closely), they decided to return to New York. Impulsively, Parker cashed in his ticket, ended up staying in L.A., and, after some recordings and performances (including a classic version of "Oh, Lady Be Good" with Jazz at the Philharmonic), the lack of drugs (which he combated by drinking an excess of liquor) resulted in a mental breakdown and six months of confinement at the Camarillo State Hospital. Released in January 1947, Parker soon headed back to New York and engaged in some of the most rewarding playing of his career, leading a quintet that included Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach. Parker, who recorded simultaneously for the Savoy and Dial labels, was in peak form during the 1947-1951 period, visiting Europe in 1949 and 1950, and realizing a lifelong dream to record with strings starting in 1949 when he switched to Norman Granz's Verve label.

But Charlie Parker, due to his drug addiction and chance-taking personality, enjoyed playing with fire too much. In 1951, his cabaret license was revoked in New York (making it difficult for him to play in clubs) and he became increasingly unreliable. Although he could still play at his best when he was inspired (such as at the 1953 Massey Hall concert with Gillespie), Bird was heading downhill. In 1954, he twice attempted suicide before spending time in Bellevue. His health, shaken by a very full if brief life of excesses, gradually declined, and when he died in March 1955 at the age of 34, he could have passed for 64.

Charlie Parker, who was a legendary figure during his lifetime, has if anything grown in stature since his death. Virtually all of his studio recordings are available on CD along with a countless number of radio broadcasts and club appearances. Clint Eastwood put together a well-intentioned if simplified movie about aspects of his life (Bird). Parker's influence, after the rise of John Coltrane, has become more indirect than direct, but jazz would sound a great deal different if Charlie Parker had not existed. The phrase "Bird Lives" (which was scrawled as graffiti after his death) is still very true.

Title: A Happy Easter

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Crazy Rhythm

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Tower Of Strength

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Sailing

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Harp Sounds

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Call Me Later

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Time To Relaxe

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Dancing Couple

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Kind Of Masters

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: West Coast Time

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Portrait (CD5)

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Parker's Mood

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz, Bop

Title: Castanets Dance

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Explore New

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Lady Be Good

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Memorial Volume 1

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Carnival King

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Portrait (CD6)

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Window Love

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Time For Gifts

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Portrait (CD2)

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Xmas Angel

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: At Storyville

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz, Bop

Title: Portrait (CD7)

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Ornithology

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz, Free Jazz

Title: Good Morning

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Light Branched

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Night And Day

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Headman

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: For Four

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Burnin' Bird

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz, Bop

Title: One World

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Take A Walk With

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: A Night in Tunisia

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Title: Butterfly Vocals

Artist: Charlie Parker

Genre: Jazz

Collections

Title: The Legacy Of Jazz

Genre: Jazz

Title: Latino Jazz Lounge

Genre: Jazz

Title: Jazz Passion

Genre: Jazz

Title: Jazz Classics 2017

Genre: Jazz

Title: Finest Bebop Jazz

Genre: Jazz, Bop

Title: New York Jazz Hits

Genre: Jazz

Title: Bebop Swing Cafe

Genre: Jazz

Title: Ultimate Soft Jazz

Genre: Jazz

Title: 50s Jazz Masters

Genre: Jazz

Featuring albums

Title: Here. . . Put This On

Artist: GEQ

Genre: Jazz

Title: Honor!

Artist: Jessye Norman

Genre:

Title: Inside Out

Artist: Allan Barnes, David Newton

Genre: Jazz

Title: 16 Best of Jazz

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Jazz

Title: A Mixed Bunch of Songs

Artist: Supersongs

Genre: Pop

Title: Georgia (Remastered)

Artist: Supersongs

Genre: Jazz

Title: Pure Jazz

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Jazz

Title: The Formative Years

Artist: Miles Davis

Genre: Jazz

Title: Miles Davis

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Jazz

Title: Birth of Be-Bop

Artist: Various Artists

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Genres