© Introduction Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
The Jazz World is blessed with a number of fine biographies on Charlie Parker, some more accurately researched and well-written than others. Among them are:
Ross Russell, Bird Lives! The High Life and the Hard Times of Charlie “Yardbird” Parker
Robert Reisner, ed. Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker
Charles Haddix, Bird:The Life and Music of Charlie Parker
Carl Woideck, Charlie Parker: His Music and His Life
Gary Giddins, Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker
Stanley Crouch, White Lightening: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker
Brian Priestley, Chasin' the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker
I have previously posed excerpts from the Russell bio as well as a full-length review of the Giddins.
In order to help acquaint you with the Haddix treatment of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker here’s the Introductory statement to that work.
“A clap of thunder heralded the passing of Charlie "Bird" Parker. Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who gave Charlie refuge and comfort during his final days in her suite at the Hotel Stanhope on Fifth Avenue, recalled, "At the moment of his going, there was a tremendous clap of thunder. I didn't think about it at the time, but I've thought about it often since; how strange it was." One musician speculated that Charlie disintegrated into "pure sound."
Charlie Parker had lived life to its fullest. Robert Reisner, a friend of Charlie's and author of Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker, observed, "Charlie Parker, in the brief span of his life, crowded more living into it than any other human being. He was a man of tremendous physical appetites. He ate like a horse, drank like a fish, was as sexy as a rabbit. He was complete in the world, was interested in everything. He composed, painted; he loved machines, cars; he was a loving father. He liked to joke and laugh. He never slept, subsisting on little catnaps. Everyone was his friend—delivery boys, taxicab drivers.... No one had such a love of life, and no one tried harder to kill himself" Dr. Richard Freymann, the attendant physician during Charlie's final days at the Stanhope Hotel, judged him to be fifty-three years old. He was thirty-four at the time of his death.
Charlie's early death came as no surprise to those who knew him well. After becoming hooked on heroin at age sixteen, Charlie struggled with drug addiction and alcohol abuse for the rest of his life. Over the years, his massive consumption of alcohol and drugs ravaged his already fragile physical and mental health. Bandleader Jay McShann observed, "I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. The way he was goin' with that dope and all. He could only last so long."
Nevertheless, during his short life, Charlie changed the course of music. Like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, he was a transitional composer and improviser who ushered in a new era of jazz and influenced subsequent generations of musicians.
Originally from Kansas City, Charlie moved to New York where he pioneered bebop—a revolution in jazz. Bursting with fresh ideas and virtuosity, his solos and compositions have inspired musicians and composers across a broad spectrum of music, ranging from Moondog, a contemporary composer and street musician, to the rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Jazz historian Martin Williams judged that Charlie influenced "everyone." In 1965, jazz pianist Lennie Tristano observed, "If Charlie Parker wanted to invoke plagiarism laws, he could sue almost everybody who's made a record in the last ten years."
Charlie's brilliance and charisma also inspired dancers, poets, writers, filmmakers, and visual artists. Jack Kerouac emulated Charlie's improvisational style in his poem "Mexico City Blues," writing, "I want to be considered a jazz poet blowing a long blues in an afternoon jazz jam session on Sunday. I take 242 choruses; my ideas vary and sometimes roll from chorus to chorus or from halfway through a chorus to halfway into the next." Kerouac's novel The Subterraneans features a cameo appearance by Charlie. Waring Cuney, Robert Pinsky, Robert Creely, and numerous other poets have also sung Charlie's praises in verse. Clint Eastwood paid homage to Charlie's tortured genius with his film Bird. In 1984, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company celebrated Charlie with For "Bird" With Love. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat honored Charlie with many artworks, including Charles the First.
Surprisingly, considering Charlie's broad influence on music and arts, details of his personal life have remained largely enigmatic. Because of his erratic lifestyle and addictions, few documents or artifacts from his life survived. His saxophones usually ended up in pawnshops, and the music he hastily scribbled on the back of envelopes on the way to recording sessions disappeared afterward. He rarely committed his thoughts to paper and was not forthcoming about his personal life during interviews.
His chameleon-like ability to empathize with those he met socially and professionally left vivid but vastly differing impressions. Frances Davis in Bebop and Nothingness explained that "among fellow musicians, Charlie was in the eye of the beholder: what he was like as a person depends on whom you ask." This is evident in the remembrances of Charlie published in Robert Reisner's book Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker. It is almost as if those interviewed recall eighty-two different Charlie Parkers.
These differing accounts are understandable, considering Charlie's numerous self-contradictions. He was alternately generous to a fault and then miserly. A loving husband and father at home, he was an obsessive philanderer while on the road. An addict, he lectured younger musicians about the dangers of drugs, advising them to "do as I say, not as I do." He rarely showed up on time for engagements, if at all, but once on stage he took charge. A high school dropout, he was well read and well spoken. The ultimate hipster, he used his considerable charm to con friends and strangers alike. He was known for his many acts of kindness and cruelty. A musical genius who struggled with mental health problems, he yearned for normalcy. A man of few words, he let his horn do the talking.
While biographical details of Charlie's life have remained sketchy, his music has been well documented. Charlie recorded prolifically for a number of record labels, and fans obsessively recorded him on the bandstand and at jam sessions. As a result, most biographies have focused on his music and recordings rather than how his addictions, his relationships, and the events in his personal life influenced his career and music. What has been written about his life has focused on his infamous public exploits like the time he rode a horse into a Manhattan tavern or when he showed up naked in the lobby of the Civic Hotel in Los Angeles looking for change to make a phone call. Charlie's legend has been embellished with each retelling until it reached mythic proportions. Separating the man from the myth has proved to be an elusive effort for those who have written about Charlie — until now. This is the story of the life and music of Charlie "Bird" Parker.”
