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Charlie Parker Jr. was a legendary Grammy Award–winning jazz saxophonist who, with Dizzy Gillespie, invented the musical style called bop or bebop.[1]
He was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on August 29, 1920,[2] the only child of Charles Parker Sr. and Addie Bailey. His father was an African-American stage entertainer, and his mother was a maid-charwoman of Native-American heritage. Charlie moved with his parents to Kansas City, Missouri when he was seven years old. At the time, the city was a lively center for African-American music, including jazz, blues and gospel.
Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique and improvisation. Parker introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career. This and its shortened form, "Bird" continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise." Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
In 1936, he married his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca Ruffin.[3]
He died on March 12, 1955, in New York City[4] and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.[5]
See also:
P > Parker > Charles Christopher Parker Jr.
Categories: Songwriters | US Black Heritage Project, Needs Profiles Created | USBH Notables, Needs Connection | USBH Notables, Needs More Sources | USBH Notables, Needs Biography | Persons Appearing on US Postage Stamps | Grammy Award Winners of the 20th Century | Jazz Musicians | Saxophonists | Lincoln Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri | US Black Heritage Project Managed Profiles | African-American Notables | Notables
"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHFW-LVK : accessed 1 September 2020), Charles Parker Jr. in household of Charles Parker, Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 86, sheet 8A, line 10, family 195, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1195; FHL microfilm 2,340,930.
"United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q5QR-SXMN : 18 July 2020), Charley Yardbird Parker, 1955.