Charlie Parker o Bebop o King of Alto Sax o Genius of - AFRCNA - 0639 Charlie parker o bebop o king of alto sax o genius of SCHOOL View Full Document Charlie Parker o Bebop o King of Alto Sax o Genius of history of Jazz o Was known as “Bird” or “Yardbird” o Had both a positive and negative influence on young musicians  Positive because he set music examples that were almost impossible to attain • Set a standard during the bebop era  Negative, use of narcotics was on of the most detrimental influences on young musicians in history of jazz o Alto saxophonist and composer o Had unusually high IQ o His photogenic memory, tonal memory, and keen sense of rhythm made Parker one of the most exceptional musicians the world has ever know o Improvised on the jazz classics o Collected royalties on his original melodies o Parker showed musicians how to be “hip”  To be “hip” a musician had to be able to improvise from the “chosen standards” • Vi Redd o Females in Jazz o Alto Sax o Hard Bop School • Gunther Schuller o Creator of the term Third Stream • Billy Strayhorn o Band leader & composer o Work

ed with Duke Ellington • Tommy Turnantine o Swing o Harp Bop o Trumpeter • Stanley Turrentine This preview has intentionally blurred sections.

Sign up to view the full version. This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TERM Characteristics Bebop caricature o Wore berets o More cultured than anything o Circul Characteristics Charlie Parker: The Spectacular Alto Saxophone of Bird – World Music Network – Legends Series Comments Posted Jun 29, 2015 It is probably true to say that, after Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker was the most influential soloist in the history of jazz, and his spectacular alto saxophone playing made him a legend well before his tragic death at the age of 34. Parker – or ‘Bird’ as he famously became known – was the driving force behind ‘bebop’, a dynamic and seemingly new form of jazz which resounded from the vibrant nightclub scene of 52nd Street in New York City in the mid-1940s. Charlie Parker was born on 29 August 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. As a teenager, he was drawn to the city’s thriving jazz clubs and regularly saw performances by major swing era bands, including Count Basie’s Orchestra.

In its ranks was one of the leading tenor saxophonists of the day, Lester Young, a true jazz original, whose seemingly effortless playing was an important early influence on Parker. Parker’s father had already left home by this time and his mother worked long hours, so his visits to jazz clubs were unsupervised. Unfortunately, this led to an early introduction to heroin and his reliance on the drug was to become forever entwined with his career. On the musical front, however, Parker was so inspired by the Kansas City scene that he reputedly practised on the alto saxophone for up to fifteen hours a day and went on to participate in the clubs’ legendary jam sessions, initially with less than perfect results. Undeterred, he served his apprenticeship with local musicians, and the late 1930s saw him briefly resident in New York City. Here he was exposed to the dazzling piano playing of Art Tatum and he also began to experiment with some of the harmonic concepts which would ultimately change the course of jazz.

A two-and-a-half-year stint as the leading light of Jay McShann‘s big band ensued, followed by membership of Earl Hines’ touring band of 1942/3, which, importantly, also included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Gillespie was a like-minded musical adventurer and, during the period when Hines’ band was in New York, he and Parker would occasionally jam at legendary Harlem clubs such as Minton’s Playhouse. Pianist Thelonious Monk, who performed regularly at the same venue, was also formulating his unique approach to the new music at this time. Parker returned to Kansas City in the winter of 1943/4, so it was left to Gillespie and bassist Oscar Pettiford to put together the first bebop group to perform on New York’s legendary 52nd Street. Documentation of this period is scant, as a Musicians’ Union studio ban had been in force around this time, and as a result the transition from swing to bebop on record seems artificially abrupt.

However, the period that followed saw numerous independent record labels emerge, and in February 1944 one of these, Apollo, recorded a big band led by Coleman Hawkins which included members of the Gillespie/Pettiford group performing the trumpeter’s classic tune ‘Woody’N You’. Despite its original sound, however, bebop essentially evolved from the style that preceded it, swing, rather than depart completely from it. Where it did differ was in the musicians’ use of extended harmonies, complex substitute chords and chromatic intervals as the basis for improvisation. Hand in hand with this was a new approach to rhythm, with drummers adding a profusion of accents to the 4/4 time signature and marking time on their cymbals rather than on the bass drum. Ironically, the first substantial documentation of Parker’s playing – as part of a group led by guitarist and vocalist Tiny Grimes – sounds pre-bebop rhythmically and seems to be looking both forwards and backwards at the same time. ‘Red Cross’ is from this session.

Early in 1945, Parker and Gillespie made their first live appearances on 52nd Street in a small group with a ‘modern’ rhythm section, and an audience for these daring new sounds was established. Significantly this led to the recording sessions and concerts that produced the classics ‘Groovin’ High’, ‘All The Things You Are’ and ‘Salt Peanuts’, included here. Despite the high level of personal invention that was taking place in Parker and Gillespie’s playing, it was still a music rooted in tradition. This was borne out by their use of twelve-bar blues and the chord structures of popular songs as the basis for fast-paced and often highly rhythmic melody lines (of which ‘I Got Rhythm’ was the most prominent example). In the months that followed, Parker started playing with a new arrival on the New York scene, 19-year-old trumpeter Miles Davis. Their earliest collaboration is documented in the November session for the Savoy label that produced the more traditional-sounding ‘Now’s The Time’ and Parker’s saxophone tour de force, ‘Koko’, based on the 1939 pop hit ‘Cherokee’.

Bebop had largely been an East Coast phenomenon, but a visit to Los Angeles by Parker and Gillespie in late 1945, and during the saxophonist’s residency there in 1946/7, helped to establish the music in the west. Parker began recording for the Dial label while in California (including the ‘Bird’ dedication, ‘Ornithology’) but unfortunately his self-destructive tendencies had also reached a peak by this time and led to his incarceration at a rehabilitation centre at Camarillo. Following his release, he produced the delightful ‘Cool Blues’, a swinging blues with pianist Errol Garner. Returning to New York in Easter 1947, the next year or so saw Parker set down a remarkable sequence of small-group recordings for both Savoy and Dial that quite simply are amongst the finest in jazz. This includes the attractively themed ‘Scrapple From The Apple’, the slow blues ‘Parker’s Mood’ and one of the saxophonist’s most accomplished ballad performances, ‘Embraceable You’. Although Parker and Gillespie led the way, other young players were also now arriving on the scene.

In addition to Monk and Davis, mentioned previously, pianist Bud Powell, trumpeter Fats Navarro, trombonist Jay Jay Johnson and others were all putting a personal stamp on the music, and all can be heard on our bonus album. Meanwhile, the autumn of 1948 saw Parker sign an exclusive contract with producer Norman Granz, which led to recordings on the Mercury, Clef, Norgran and Verve labels. ‘Repetition’, featuring Parker with an orchestra, is likely to have been recorded for Granz before this arrangement but paved the way for the controversial ‘with strings’ sessions that commenced in late 1949. These will sound overtly saccharine to modern ears but it is likely that their recording was something that Parker initiated, possibly in an attempt to reach the wider listening public. Accordingly, ‘Just Friends’, with its rhapsodic saxophone solo, became Parker’s best-selling record ever. The early 1950s saw Parker recording in a variety of studio settings, including a reunion with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk that, despite its all-star cast (and the upbeat ‘Bloomdido’), produced variable results.

Other sessions from this time were more successful but are sometimes forgotten in the light of the saxophonist’s earlier innovations. These included small groups with old associates such as Miles Davis, John Lewis and Max Roach (including ‘Star Eyes’ and ‘Lover Man’), forays into Latin music (‘My Little Suede Shoes’) and the rare sight of Parker fronting a big band (‘Night And Day’). All are superb examples of his mature style. Parker’s status as a jazz immortal, together with Dizzy Gillespie, had been assured back in 52nd Street’s heyday and there was to be one final reunion, at Toronto’s Massey Hall in May 1953, with Bud Powell, Max Roach and bassist Charles Mingus. ‘Hot House’, which fittingly concludes our bebop disc, is taken from this historic concert. Charlie Parker was the supreme creative figure of his time and has remained a major influence on all jazz musicians, including those playing today. Despite his innovations, his dependence on hard drugs and alcohol throughout his life destroyed many of his personal and working relationships and ultimately the man himself.

Worn out by years of abuse, he died on 12 March 1955, aged 34, although a visiting doctor wrongly estimated his age at time of death to be 53. Jazz Flashcards - Course Hero The most influential leader of the bebop movement was? Charlie Parker What was Charlie Parker nickname? Bird The best known singer to emerge from the bebop period? Sarah Vaughn The decade when modern jazz started? 1940's The period from the early beginnings of jazz in New Orleans to the end of the big band era is called what? Classical period A more complex chord that was often used in place of the standard chord was called? Substitution. Cord The nickname for the new "modern jazz" was called? Bebop What classical composer was very influential to the bebopers? Egor Stravinsky A typical Bop line was? Fast tempo, full of twist and turns Some elements of the new morn jazz were all about the following? The trumpeter who was also a main leader of the new music called morn jazz was?

Dizzy Gillespie Played brilliantly by Charlie Parker, one of the most recognizable 12 bar blues in history Parker's mood Dropping a bomb referred to as? Bass drum and bebop The famous cool school pianist who worked w/alto saxophonist Paul Desmond and experimented with odd time meters? Dave rubek The most influential of the bebop pianist? Bud Powell The pianist leader of the modern jazz quartet? John Lewis The firt bebop composer and considered to be the second only to Duke Ellington in his compositional brilliance? Theloneous monk What famous group has been linked to classical chamber music? Modern jazz quartet The young generation of white musicians who identified w/bebop music? Beats or beatnik What famous bebop trumpeter was also known for Afro Cuban elements in his music? Dizzy Gillespie Sarah Vaughn nickname was what? Sassy It's brilliant clear living trumpeter who was tragically killed in a car wreck at the height of his career? Clifford brown Bebop composers would often use a standard chord progression but make up a new melody to avoid copyright? True or false True The white pianist that miles Davis hired for his "kind of blue"recording session?

Bill Evans The firt bebop tenor player was? Derxter Gordon Drummers in the cool movement played differently then in the other styles of jazz by doing what? Using or implying brush work instead of sticks Kenton's band swung differently than count bassies band in that it? Conveyed solemn feeling Stan Kenton called his music? Progressive The tenor jazz player w/duke Ellington band who played an unprecedented 27 choruses at the Newport jazz festival? Paul Gonzales The Titan tenor player who after making it to the top abruptly stopped playing and practiced for months under a bridge to get better was? Sonny Rawlings The big band leader who was associated With the west coast jazz movement and who lead the way for college style bands. Stan Kenton Known as the most distinctive tenor saxophonist to emerge during the 1940's and a leader of the cool school movement and later a master of boss's nova? Stan Getz The gifted arranger who wrote the brilliantly for some of miles Davis best recordings? Gill Evans Lennie Tristanos most dams student?

Lennie konitz An innovative pianist and composer who invented a modern jazz alternative to the bebop style and was also the influential teacher whose most famous student who was alto saxophonist, lee konitz? Lennie tristano Miles Davis is one of the Main leaders of what school? Old school Bebopers loved employing dissonant intervals in their playing. One of their favorites to use was? Flattened fifth The progressive jazz band leader was one of the most important figures in the development of jazz education of the jazz camps he set up around the country. Stan Kenton The musician and a nine piece band recorded the album that was called birth of the cool and set the precedence for the next stage of development in jazz history? Miles Davis The famous bebop baritone sax player who worked with miles Davis and was the primary composer on the birth of the cool album. Jerry mulligan Which singer from the swing era adapted beautifully in the bebop style? Ella Fitzgerald The modern style that is more subdued than the bebop of Charlie Parker and dizzy Gillespie? Cool jazz Based in California for 3 years, Gerry mulligan is always associated with what school? West coast school of jazz 9.

The most popular saxophonist in the history of jazz Kenny g The earthy gospelish blues oriented style that came along after cool jazz was called? Funk jazz or hardbop Joe zawinul and Wayne shorter joined forces to create this innovative fusion groups? Weather report This type of jazz pioneered by miles Davis and John Coltrane left the tunes that had standard chord progressions and relied instead on improvisational based on certain specific scales. What type of jazz was this. Modal jazz Influenced by Coltrane, shorter and turpentine this man was a part of the contemporary jazz scene that used a more complicated jazz oriented style Michael brecker This leading tenor saxophonist who burst on the scene in the 1940s had several career changes including being a leader of the cool school movement and having major hits in the boss's nova genre Stan Getz It's innovative drummer led the hard bop group and provided a training ground for countless numbers of young players Art Blakey This child prodigy on the piano played with miles Davis for. 63 to 69 and went on to write many beloved jazz standards like watermelon mans and dolphin dance Herby Hancock The best known composer of bossa nova songs was Brazilian. His name...

Antonio Carlos jobim From 55 to 57 the body of work of this tenor player would be fill several careers. In him the avant grade found its high priest John Coltrane It's leading alto soloit after Charlie Parker had a big warm tone and was leader of the hard bop movement Cannonball aderly The style that emerged during the late 60 what was the most popular jazz for the next 30 yrs Fusion The most influential of all jazz qgutarist who introduces voiced melody Line in octaves Wes Montgomery The top selling jazz album of all time Kind of blue Charlie Parker — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm charlie parker Charles Christopher "Bird" Parker, Jr (29th August 1920 – 12th March 1955) was a U.S. bebop saxophonist and composer. Early in his career Parker was dubbed Yardbird; this was later shortened to "Bird" (or sometimes "Yard") and remained Parker's nickname for the rest of his life, and inspiration for the titles of his works such as " Ornithology and Yardbird suite ". Parker is commonly considered the greatest bebop jazz musician.

In terms of influence and impact, his contribution to… read more Charlie Parker - 'Yardbird' | Saxophone Players Guide Saxophone Players Guide Contact Charlie Parker aka ‘Yardbird’ Known as “The Bird” for his love of delicious chicken (also known as “yardbird”) Charlie Parker is branded into the mind of many saxophonists as a bebop genius. His vertical melodies seemed to breeze across chords at lightning speed with a deft accuracy that many players still try to emulate today. Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Charlie Parker was raised primarily by his mother. Originally, Bird didn’t show an aptitude for music. Although his mother saved up money to buy a used saxophone for him, he didn’t take to it right away. Bird began in the school band on the baritone horn, but later witched to the clarinet at the request of his teacher. From there, he began playing saxophone outside of school, including nearby clubs. Eventually, he preferred making money to school, and lied to the nearby union about his age to keep playing and dropped out of school altogether. He was married and a father by the ripe age of seventeen. Even from a young age, Bird had a way of pushing himself into challenging musical situations.

At first, he only knew a few songs, usually only in their original key. (Honeysuckle Rose was one of the first tunes he learned by heart.) He would try to step in and play on a solo or two, but he was often booed off the stage and out of the club. One time, Jo Jones (drummer) threw a cymbal at him because his playing was not good enough. He kept his ambition regardless, taking gigs and trying to learn theory from pianists and other musicians he came in contact with. When Bird made the fateful pairing with Dizzy Gillespie, they unleashed a new kind of jazz: bop or bebop. Many consider it to be the first form of jazz intended for art, rather than public use. The frenetic tempos of bebop make it difficult – but not impossible – to dance to, and therefore bands were not often hired for the dance halls of the 1940s and 1950s. Some of the most well-known bebop players also began introducing one another, and their students, to crippling drug addictions. Charlie himself was a heroin addict from a young age, but was also known for being able to have seemingly endless physical limits.

He drank, ate, and used drugs as much as possible until a peptic ulcer woke him up to his limits later in life. He finally passed away from a heart attack at thirty four years of age. The doctor who examined him, however, thought he was in his fifties. His last album, Jazz at Massey Hall (1953), was recorded just two years before his death. Most saxophone students are familiar with “Charlie Parker’s Omnibook”, a compilation of solo transcriptions from his performances. Phrasing and technique are crucial to working through every solo. Otherwise, the notes can seem to be as incoherent as a run-on sentence. Listening to and examining his solos at a slower pace can make more sense of his flexible rhythms and harmonic choices. You can learn more about Charlie Parker at this Tribute site . A great addition to the library. This book is a great collection of stories from his Family and some well written stories from many others who knew Bird. Chapter 11: Bebop | Jazz: W. W. Norton StudySpace Jazz: W. W.

Norton StudySpace Bebop Chapter Outline With bebop, jazz shifted to the paradigm still in place today: a subcultural art music played primarily by small combos in a jam-session format, favoring solo improvisation and aimed at a specialized market of aficionados. This chapter explores the racial landscape that helped create bebop, as well as the roles of centrifugal forces that pull musicians out of swing bands and centripetal forces that pull them into small-group settings in New York. We see how the musical elements of bebop take shape in the early 1940s in places like Minton's Playhouse, and focus on the musical contributions of its main figures, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. We also learn about pianist/composer Thelonious Monk and the creation of a new generation of bebop musicians (Max Roach, Bud Powell). Finally, we situate bebop within the broader picture of American music, showing not only how its jam-session format leads to later jazz, but also the implications of its separation from popular song and new types of popular music (early rhythm and blues and rock and roll).

Bebop Bop is a turning away from jazz as a popular music, part of the mainstream of American culture, to a music that is isolated, non-danceable, played by small combos to a small audience in a virtuosic style that is difficult to grasp (mid-1940s). There are two ways to see this change: one is that bebop was revolutionary, something apart from the jazz that preceded it; the second is that bebop is evolutionary, part of the jazz tradition that made it into an art music. We begin with the evolutionary approach. Bebop and Jam Sessions Swing musicians started work in the evening and continued to play after their regular gig (engagement) at jam sessions, which were relaxing, on the one hand, in their informality, but, on the other hand, work-like in their competitiveness. Musicians kept inexperienced players off the bandstand by playing tunes at ridiculously fast tempos in an unfamiliar key. Standards like "I Got Rhythm" were reharmonized with difficult chord substitutions. Bebop musicians were continually tested and experimented with fast tempos and complicated harmonies.

Dropping Bombs at Minton's Charlie Parker and other Beboppers played jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse on 118th Street in Manhattan, where adventurous challenge was the name of the game. Drummer Kenny Clarke relates how he changed drumming while playing a very fast tune with Teddy Hill's band in the 1930s. He couldn't play every quarter-note on the bass drum so he started keeping the beat on the ride cymbal, producing a lighter, more flexible way to play time and leaving the bass drum available for fills. Hill and some other swing musicians didn't like it, feeling that the beat was too broken up, so he let Clarke go in 1940. But when his band collapsed, Minton offered him the job of running the music at his Playhouse. Hill realized that Clarke's style of playing might be perfect for a jam session. Clarke's combinations of snare and bass drum accents were called klook-mop.

"Klook'" as he came to be known, played unexpected bass drum accents that became known as dropping bombs (this all took place, after all, during World War II) and became very popular with the younger generation of drummers like Max Roach and Art Blakey. Soloists played unpredictable melodies (inspired by Lester Young), often ending with two eighth notes ("be-bop" or "re-bop"), which irritated older musicians. Pianists, inspired by Basie, started to "comp"-putting in accompanying chords in unpredictable places that complemented the drummer. Because of the new drum technique, guitarists no longer had to play four-to-the bar and instead comped on the newly popular electric guitar. Bassists continued to be timekeepers but raised the level of virtuosity. Oscar Pettiford could play swiftly and also take melodic solos. "Nobody Plays Those Changes" Bebop is characterized by complex, dissonant harmonies. Although disliked by many musicians, these harmonies were not new. Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and Coleman Hawkins used complex and dissonant harmonies, orchestrations, and solo lines, respectively.

The problem was how to share these new harmonies so that other musicians could use them. The new harmonies were characterized by common use of the tritone and extended notes of a chord, which made improvising more difficult. Musicians had to approach this music intellectually, not just emotionally. On the Road Racial and economic forces were driving musicians out of swing. These non-musical forces form the basis of the revolutionary view of bebop. During the Swing Era, black musicians could not get lucrative jobs playing for radio orchestras, nor could they get lengthy engagements at the top New York ballrooms or dance halls, both of which offered invaluable publicity and a rest from the rigors of constant touring. Thus, most black bands were forced onto the road. Although some of the top bands could travel in their own railroad cars, most had to travel on buses and tour the Jim Crow South, where they were subject to discriminatory practices. Musicians became bitter and exhausted and so left the big bands for jam sessions. Bebop provided a site where they could go and explore their music outside the system. By the early 1940s a new jazz based on chromatic harmonies and an interactive rhythm section was in place.

All that was needed was a new kind of virtuoso soloist. Charlie Parker (1920-1955) Parker ("Bird") is considered the best alto saxophonist in jazz history. He grew up in Kansas City, and he received his nickname after he provided a "Yardbird" (dinner in the form of a run-over chicken) to his band mates during a trip to a gig. But the name "Bird" also resonates with qualities of quickness, elusiveness, and melodic beauty-all apply to Parker. Parker did not show any great gift for music at first and was humiliated by drummer Jo Jones at a jam session in the early days. This spurred him to start practicing seriously for a summer in the Ozarks. His model was Lester Young, whose solos he memorized. By the time he returned to Kansas City he was described as playing like Lester Young, only twice as fast. He joined the well-known territory band lead by Jay McShann. He also started using alcohol, pills, and, after a car accident, morphine. Eventually he started using heroin.

His solo playing seemed to be both bluesy and modern, enlivening traditional blues progressions with modern harmonic substitutions and rapid-fire solos. At the same time, he could blend into a big-band reed section when needed. Although he could play well while on heroin, his constant movement from band to band taxed the patience of most bandleaders. In New York, Parker had a readily available drug supply and jam sessions to play. It was through these sessions that he found a network of musicians who shared his approach to "advanced" music. One such was trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) Dizzy was as much a virtuoso as Parker and also the intellectual force behind bebop. If Parker was the Pied Piper, Gillespie was the master craftsman. Originally from Cheraw, South Carolina, he was self-taught on the trumpet with unusual technique. He earned a music scholarship to attend Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina, where he studied trumpet and piano. He first heard jazz on the radio. He went to play jazz in Philadelphia, then in New York. He was an excellent soloist and reader.

By 1939, he was at the top of the heap, playing with Cab Calloway; he also wrote arrangements and composed for the band. However, the atmosphere of the band caused him to leave it in 1941 after a brief, violent confrontation with Calloway. For the next several years he freelanced around New York, which included playing in small-combo jam sessions that gave birth to bebop. Gillespie became the center of gravity for bebop. Beboppers hung out at his apartment, sharing information. Gillespie was generous to other musicians, showing them the harmonic and rhythmic features of the new music. Because he could play the piano, he could adapt dissonant chords to his compositions such as "Salt Peanuts," which was based on a bop drum lick, thus introducing a humorous side to the music. Another of his compositions, "A Night in Tunisia," illustrates his deepening fascination with Latin music. On 52nd Street Dizzy first met Bird when they both played in the Earl Hines big band in 1942. Dizzy loved Parker's fluidity and Parker loved Dizzy's sound and harmonic knowledge.

In 1944 they played together again in former Hines vocalist Billy Ekstine's band. Gillespie's arrangements for this band made it the first big band to embrace bebop. Even so, bebop never became widely popular, due to the complexity of the music and the pervasive racism in America at that time, which made it impossible for a black musician to be taken seriously. By the end of 1944, Bird and Dizzy turned to the jam-session-style small ensemble. The words bebop and rebop were already in place by the time Dizzy brought his quintet to 52nd Street. This band played composed heads that were rhythmically disjoined and confusing to many listeners. Bird on Records The first bebop recordings date from 1945 and were made mostly by small independent labels. For the record companies this was a low-cost way to get into the business. Jazz musicians could create new melodies on old chord progressions without paying royalties. "Ko-Ko" This piece is based on the chord progression of Ray Noble's 1938 piece "Cherokee," which was recorded in 1939 by Charlie Barnett and Count Basie.

It has a sixty-four-bar form (twice the thirty-two-bar AABA form) with a difficult bridge. Parker practiced this piece as a teenager, and it became his showpiece with the Jay McShann band. When the band came to New York to play the Savoy Ballroom, which had a broadcast "wire" setup, Parker let loose with a long solo in this piece that amazed everyone who heard it. In 1945, "Cherokee" became "Ko-Ko," recorded for Savoy Records. The owner of the label would not tolerate a copyrighted melody, so they left the "Cherokee" melody out. The pianist was supposed to be Bud Powel but he didn't show, so for this piece it is probably Gillespie on piano except when he is playing trumpet. The other pianist was Argonne Thornton (later Sadik Hakim). "Embraceable You" This Gershwin piece was recorded in 1948, but Parker avoids the melody. Instead he plays a popular 1939 melody, "A Table in the Corner," recorded by Artie Shaw. After Parker's impressive solo, a young Miles Davis takes the next solo.

"Now's the Time" Parker considered bebop to be a collision of New York progressive music with Midwest blues. Blues during the 1940s had many faces, including swing band blues and Mississippi delta blues electrified by the likes of Muddy Waters. Parker's contribution was to add the chromatic harmonies of modern jazz and a fluid sense of rhythm to the vocal nuances of blues. This piece is a Parker composition built on one riff. It was used later for a rock and roll hit called "The Hucklebuck" and was covered by many pop musicians. Parker didn't earn a cent from the royalties because the owner of Savoy Records owned the copyright. This recording was made for a major label (Verve) so the sound is much better than in other Parker recordings. Nuances are more easily heard. Bird's Last Flight The Parker-Gillespie partnership ended in 1946 when the band went to Los Angeles and met with an indifferent response. Gillespie took the band back to New York, but Bird cashed in his ticket to get money for his heroin habit. He stayed in California for a year, taking drugs, and when the heroin ran out he turned to alcohol and barbiturates.

In 1947 Parker made some recordings for Dial, which showed his playing at its worst. Later that night he was found in his hotel lobby wearing only his socks. He was arrested and committed to the state hospital for six months. Free from drugs, he returned to New York only to return to his habit. In the view of bandmate Miles Davis, Parker became "some kind of . . . clown." With the help of Norman Granz, Parker found some commercial success with Mercury Records, where he recorded with strings. Just Friends from this session became his most successful record. But his drug addiction made him unreliable and wore him down. In 1955, he died. He was thirty-four; the coroner estimated his age as fifty-three. The Elder Statesman Gillespie disdained drugs and showed how bebop could act as a foundation for the professional jazz musician. Upon returning from California in 1946, he started a big band using bebop arrangements. When not playing trumpet, he took his cue from his former boss, Cab Calloway, who balanced art with wit and silliness-a mix that could broaden the audience for bop.

As bop declined in the 1950s, Gillespie remained drug-free and generous. He became a Baha'i when other blacks were turning to a militant form of Islam. He kept his big band active for years while nurturing the careers of many young jazz musicians. He traveled overseas for the U.S. government with his band while openly criticizing the state of American race relations. He eventually became a jazz celebrity even as his "chops" weakened in his later years. He continued to explore music and became an elder statesman of jazz. He died in 1993. Voices This is a long quote from African American writer Amiri Baraka about the meaning of bebop to him and his generation: a new aesthetic leading to a new sense of purpose. The Bebop Generation An entire generation of young musicians started playing bop. Some, like trumpeter Fats Navarro, thought that the drugs and the ability to play the music were connected, so they started to take heroin-and to die from it. If they did not die from it, they were frequently jailed for drug possession, thus having their careers interrupted in any case.

Other players such as Sonny Stitt would go on to equal the musical virtuosity of Parker. Tenor saxophonists, filtered through Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, kept pace with the new music. These included Don Byas, Lucky Thompson, and Illinois Jacquet. J.J. Johnson on trombone, Serge Chaloff and Leo Parker on baritone saxophone, and Milt Jackson on vibraharp are examples of musicians applying bebop practices on other instruments. Bud Powell (1924-1966) Part of a musical family, he knew classical music but learned about jazz by hanging out at Minton's Playhouse, where Monk spotted his talent, a recognition that Powell never forgot. At nineteen he joined Cootie Williams's band and was playing very well, but he was badly beaten by police in Philadelphia, leaving him with crippling headaches. This started a long round of psychiatric treatment, which included incarceration, medication, and electroshock treatments that affected his memory. Powell also had a weakness for alcohol. Piano Style He laid the foundation for all bebop pianists to follow. His left hand played chords while his right hand improvised lines rivaling those of Parker and Gillespie.

Sometimes he would play block-chord style where the melody is supported by rich chords; at other times he might play a stride-piano style scattered with Tatum-like runs. He also pioneered the piano trio. "Tempus Fugue-It" Recorded in 1949; Powell had just emerged from a sanitarium and would return shortly after this recording. He seems surprisingly in control given the circumstances. This side was recorded by a young Norman Granz for his Clef records. Accompanied by Ray Brown (bass) and Max Roach (drums), he recorded at a variety of tempos. This piece suggests Powell's familiarity with baroque music. It is a thirty-two-bar AABA form with the bridge more active harmonically than the relatively static A sections. This recording illustrates the intensity of Powell's playing. "Un Poco Loco" Powell composed a number of important jazz pieces. Many of titles, like this one, are self-reflective. This is a fast Latin tune. By the end of the 1950s, he had moved to France, where he gradually fell apart.

At times he seemed to be in total control; at other times, he would play haltingly or stop and stare into space. He died of tuberculosis. Jazz in Los Angeles: Central Avenue. Bebop was played on the West Coast as well. The West Coast had a long history of jazz. New Orleans musicians recorded there as early as 1922. Central Avenue, running south from downtown to Watts, was the center for African American life in Los Angeles. Blacks were attracted to the area by the availability of work in the shipbuilding industry. Central Avenue was the Mecca for entertainment, which included modern jazz by around 1945, with Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee, and the Charlie Parker quintet. Soon, young Californians like Dexter Gordon were playing bebop. Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) He came from a middle-class home with a jazz-loving father who was a doctor to jazz musicians such as Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington. Dr. Gordon took Dexter to big-band shows on a regular basis. Dexter studied clarinet and then saxophone in high school.

After school he studied with swing reed player Lloyd Reese, who taught him and others chromatic harmony. Reese also ran a rehearsal band He saw Hawk as a master, but he was inspired by Lester Young. Dexter Rides Again At seventeen he joined the Lionel Hampton band, where he learned an extroverted style of playing from bandmate Illinois Jacquet. Gordon then played with the bands of Fletcher Henderson and Louis Armstrong. He went to New York, where he learned theory from Dizzy Gillespie. After hearing Parker he started playing bebop and picked up a heroin addiction. He recorded for Savoy Records and later acted in a West Coast play and the movie Round Midnight. His style was relaxed and rhythmically intricate. He would quote pop songs in his solos and often spoke the lyrics of a ballad before he played it. He eventually met Oklahoma City saxophonist Wardell Gray, who had been influenced by guitarist Charlie Christian. Gordon and Gray played together in Billy Eckstine's big band. "The Rubaiyat" Gordon and Gray started playing together at a local Central Avenue fried-chicken joint. They ended up recording together for Dial Records and their "The Chase" ended up being a best seller.

It was seven minutes long over two 78 recordings and was the epitome of the tenor saxophone duel. It is mentioned in Jack Kerouac's On the Road. "The Rubiayat" is shorter and more controlled but still exciting as Gray and Gordon first trade choruses and then "fours" while quoting other music. Gordon was arrested for heroin possession and sent to prison for two years. Gray was found murdered in 1955. He was addicted to heroin, but the reason for his murder is not known. Homecoming During the 1950s, Gordon alternated playing and prison, but the 1960s saw him return to form recording for Blue Note. He spent much of his time in Europe, where black musicians felt less prejudice. He lived in Copenhagen for years, learned to speak Danish, played locally, and toured. He returned to New York and a successful career in 1976. He recorded for Columbia, acted in films, and took on the role of elder statesman. He died in 1990.

Aftermath: Bebop and Pop For a brief time in the 1940s bebop was marketed as a popular music while swing began to fade. It was represented as both modern and as a comic novelty. Dizzy Gillespie reinforced this image through language and look, as did other jazz musicians. It failed as pop music, but musicians saw it as a musical system that became the foundation of the jazz musicians' identity. This is true even today. In order to build an audience for the music, it was presented as a jam session, only in public. Norman Granz was central to this transformation. Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) Granz (1918-2001) grew up in Los Angeles. Like John Hammond, his interest in jazz was both musical and political. His first concerts were interracial. His first concerts were held at a classical music venue, Philharmonic Hall in Los Angeles, but were soon banned because, according to management, there was a threat of violence; according to Granz it was due to the interracial audiences. He took the concerts on the road but kept the name.

Granz featured performers from various styles including swing, bop, and nascent rhythm and blues. He encouraged the competitive nature of the jam session, which critics hated but audiences loved: the young audience hollered and stomped their feet during concerts. He profited greatly from these concerts. He insisted that his bands and the audience be integrated. He took a special interest in Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. Granz pioneered jazz in the concert hall, although these days, audience behavior resembles an audience at a classical concert. Jazz in the concert hall provides an atmosphere conducive to serious listening and adds social prestige to music. A Short-Lived Era By the time Bird died in 1955, the excitement about bebop had long passed. Musicians still learned the style, but new directions based on different aesthetics and racial politics were already starting to appear. Charlie Parker | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Scott Yanow 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. Saxophonist Charlie (the Bird) Parker, developer of bebop | African American Registry Saxophonist Charlie (the Bird) Parker, developer of bebop Charlie Parker Date: Sun, 1920-08-29 On this date in 1920, Charlie Parker was born. He was an African American alto saxophone player, a founder of the bebop jazz style, and one of the most influential musicians in the history of jazz. Born Charles Parker, Jr., in Kansas City, Kansas, he acquired the nickname "Yardbird" (usually shortened to "Bird") as a young man. Largely self-taught, Parker had an ability to listen and a willingness to practice that enabled him to make rapid progress on the saxophone. By 1935, he was playing professionally in local swing bands. In 1939, Parker visited New York City and was soon playing with other young American musicians, including trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, and drummer Kenny Clarke.

During the early 1940s, Parker, Gillespie, and a few other players gradually developed a complex style of jazz that became known as bebop. The early bebop recordings that he and Gillespie made seemed complicated and unintelligible to critics and listeners. Soon, however, these recordings came to be regarded as jazz classics. After 1945, Parker usually led his own small jazz groups, which were typically comprised of a trumpeter, pianist, bassist, and drummer, in addition to himself on saxophone. Various American musicians performed in Parker’s combos over the years, including trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Bud Powell, and drummer Max Roach. Parker experienced many personal difficulties throughout his life. Often in debt and addicted to alcohol and drugs, he endured broken marriages, suicide attempts, and even imprisonment. His death at the age of 34 was the result of a number of ailments, including stomach ulcers, pneumonia, cirrhosis of the liver, and a heart attack. Parker received several honors during his lifetime. He won several jazz polls in Down Beat magazine and was placed in its Hall of Fame in 1955.

His mastery of bebop made him a role model for jazz players around the world. For decades musicians have copied his favorite melody patterns, his methods of playing those patterns, and even entire solos of his. Reference: Transposed for B Flat Instruments Charles Dumont & Son Inc Jazz saxophonist was known for pure bebop - latimes Jazz saxophonist was known for pure bebop December 23, 2007 |Jocelyn Y. Stewart | Times Staff Writer When writers and critics wrote about alto saxophonist Frank Morgan's music in the last two decades of his life -- the "lyrical, blues-rich voice," "the ravishing melodies" -- they also wrote of his prolonged silence. For nearly 30 years Morgan was incarcerated, the consequence of crimes committed to feed an addiction to heroin and other drugs. But the prison that first held Morgan was not addiction or San Quentin. It was youthful admiration that morphed into obsession. As a child, Morgan wanted to learn from his hero, jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker. Then, in the 1950s critics crowned him the "next Charlie Parker" and Morgan found himself trying to be the revered artist.

"I was afraid of success, afraid of failure. Afraid I wasn't as good as they said I was," Morgan once said. "It damn near cost me my life, trying to be 'Bird' rather than be Frank." Parker died in 1955 at 34, still addicted to heroin. When Morgan died Dec. 14 at his home in Minneapolis from colon cancer, he was a free man: not addicted or imprisoned, not incarcerated in the life of his mentor. His family -- he lived with his cousins Melanie and Lance Taylor, who survive him -- and his music were his joys. To get to that point in life, the musician first traveled a path that Parker himself had tried to dissuade him from. Born Dec. 23, 1933, in Minneapolis, Morgan was the son of Stanley Morgan, a guitarist with the Ink Spots. When Morgan was 7, his father took him to hear Parker play with the Jay McShann Orchestra and introduced him. It changed the boy's life. "My father said that the first time Bird stood up and took a solo, I turned to him and said, 'Hey, Dad, that's it for the guitar.

That's what I want to play,' " Morgan told the Boston Globe in 2006. Morgan traded the guitar, which his father had been teaching him to play since Morgan was 2, for a clarinet, which Parker insisted was an important step on the road to playing saxophone. By the time he was 14, Morgan had moved to Los Angeles where his father owned Casablanca, a club on Central Avenue that was rich with jazz clubs and after-hours spots. The avenue was the cultural home for local musicians; a mandatory stopover for those visiting the West Coast. Nearby Jefferson High School, where Morgan was a student, was a training ground that fed the avenue new talent. Though still a teenager, Morgan recorded with Teddy Charles and founding members of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Milt Jackson and Kenny Clarke. At the Club Alabam on Central Avenue he backed Billie Holiday and other artists. Later he was invited to join Duke Ellington's band. Morgan's father insisted that he finish school first. Parker's frequent trips to Los Angeles gave Morgan a chance to hang out with his hero and learn from his blistering rhythmic phrasing and harmonic vocabulary.

Parker's heroin addiction was no secret, particularly among musicians, many of whom were drug abusers. At 17, Morgan figured he "had to take drugs to get to the true essence of bebop." Morgan thought his mentor would be happy; he was wrong. "He cried when he found out I was using," Morgan said in the Globe article. "He said, 'That's the last thing in the world I want. Your common sense should have seen how it was treating me.' " Three years later Morgan made his first recording as a sideman. In 1955 he recorded his own album, "Introducing Frank Morgan," and earned comparisons to Parker. But the album that should have been his grand debut turned out to be his last as a leader for decades. Under the weight of expectations he could never meet -- his own and the public's -- Morgan hid in a world of crime, addiction and incarceration. Because he was a noted jazz musician, in prison he "could get anything I wanted," he once said, including drugs and a chance to keep playing music. At San Quentin State Prison he served time with other talented and addicted musicians, including fellow alto saxophonist Art Pepper.

They made up the "warden's band" and performed for outsiders and inmates. "But all we really were was a bunch of failures, living inside a big iron cage," Morgan told the Chicago Tribune in 1987. "And if you're an insecure person, being a big fish in a little pond is easier than trying to learn how to live in the outside world." In 1985, Morgan finally succeeded in the world outside. He left prison for the last time and launched a comeback that fans and critics welcomed. He performed in "Prison-Made Tuxedos," an off-Broadway play based in part on his life. Former Times jazz critic Leonard Feather called him "the greatest living alto saxophonist," a sentiment echoed by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

Question: What bebopping saxophonist was known as "Bird"?
Answer: Charlie Parker