Charlie Parker
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[[Image:Conn6M3.JPG|thumb|right|255px|Right side view of a Conn 6M "Lady Face" alto sax with highly distinctive underslung octave key, a model that Parker is known to have used.[http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/Charlie-Parker][http://www.hangoverlounge.com/downloads/'TisAutumn_2.jpg]
[http://www.afropop.org/img/afropop/Improvisation2CharlieParker.jpg]
]]
[[Image:Conn6M2.JPG|thumb|right|255px|Left side view of a Conn 6M "Lady Face"[http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/Conn_6M.htm] alto saxophone showing highly distinctive underslung octave key.]]
Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird", early in his career, and the shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's soubriquet for the rest of his life, and inspired titles of many Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite" and "Ornithology."
Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries. Several of Parker's songs have become standards, including "Billie's Bounce," "Anthropology," "Ornithology," and "Confirmation". He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines — such as "Koko," "Kim," and "Leap Frog" — he was also one of the great blues players. His themeless blues improvisation "Parker's Mood" represents one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Parker fused jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.
Parker also became an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer.
Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird", early in his career, and the shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's soubriquet for the rest of his life, and inspired titles of many Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite" and "Ornithology."
Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries. Several of Parker's songs have become standards, including "Billie's Bounce," "Anthropology," "Ornithology," and "Confirmation". He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines — such as "Koko," "Kim," and "Leap Frog" — he was also one of the great blues players. His themeless blues improvisation "Parker's Mood" represents one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Parker fused jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.
Parker also became an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer.
Source: Wikipedia.
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