How close were Charlie Parker (Bird) and Dizzy Gillespie (Diz)?  It’s worth noting the statement Bird (allegedly) made to Ahmed Basheer a few months before his death. He said, “Basheer, I don’t let anyone get close to me, even you.” When Basheer asked why, Bird said, “Once in Kansas City I had a friend who I liked very much, and a sorrowful thing happened. He died.” Bird was referring to Robert Simpson, a trombonist six years Bird’s senior, who was an older-brother figure and constant companion. Bird was just getting started on saxophone, and was, by all accounts, terrible, but … Continue reading Weekly Posting, February 28th, 2020

On February 24th, 1952, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie appeared on Channel 5 in New York, on a Down Beat awards show. It’s the only live performance by Bird in existence. (Norman Granz financed a short film that included Bird, but, for technical reasons, the music was overdubbed.) Television was just getting off the ground in the early 50s, and only certain programs were videotaped, so we must be grateful for this one remarkable scrap, in which we witness Bird and Diz playing Tadd Dameron’s “Hot House”, one of their seminal recordings from 1945. (This clip is readily available on … Continue reading Weekly Posting, February 24th, 2020

Charlie Parker ( Bird) had four wives, three of whom he legally married and none of whom he legally divorced. He married his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca Ruffin, when he was not quite 16 years old. During the period when he was bouncing back-and-forth between Kansas City and New York, he married Geraldine Scott. He married Doris Sydnor in 1948, in the midst of his most productive period artistically. (They had been a couple since 1945.) By 1950, that marriage had run its course and Bird began a romantic relationship with Chan Richardson. Chan was young, beautiful, intelligent, hip, and a vocal proponent of … Continue reading Weekly Post, February 18th, 2020

On February 9, 1946, Dizzy Gillespie and his band flew back to NYC following a 10 week engagement at Billy Berg’s in LA. Charlie Parker cashed in his plane ticket and stayed behind. It’s often said that Bird was left “stranded” in California, and at least one biographer claims he spent the proceeds on heroin, which is impossible to know. Generally speaking, any amount of money in Bird’s possession would be gone in a matter of hours. But there is a tendency to view his actions as self-destructive by default, and his condition a state of self-inflicted victimhood. (This notion … Continue reading Weekly Post February 9th, 2020

Charlie Parker (Bird) was released from Camarillo State Hospital, northwest of Los Angeles, in late January, 1947. (How he got there is another story entirely.) Despite much research, the exact date remains uncertain. Bird apparently sat in with Erroll Garner on the night of his release, but that doesn’t date it precisely. What is certain, however, is that trumpeter Chuck Kopely threw a party in Bird’s honor on February 1st, 1947. Not only that, amateur recordings were made, so we know some of the tunes that were played. Perhaps it’s not surprising that the songs captured that night mirror Bird’s … Continue reading Weekly Post, February 1st, 2020

In December, 1948, Charlie Parker (Bird) signed a recording contract with Norman Granz, jazz impresario and founder of Verve Records. This marks the starting point of his artistic decline. It didn’t happen immediately, and many other factors contributed, but there is still much to regret about their association, starting with “Charlie Parker with Strings”. Bird moved to New York in 1942 and quickly fell under the sway of European classical music, something he hadn’t been exposed to in Kansas City. Over the course of that decade, he grew frustrated with the limitations of the 12 bar blues and the 32 … Continue reading Weekly Post, January 24th, 2020

1951 was a year of change for Charlie Parker (Bird), and not necessarily for the better. 1950 had seen its share of triumphs, including the commercial success of “Charlie Parker with Strings” and, in December, a tour of Sweden, where he was treated as an artist, not as an entertainer. But Bird canceled a final performance in order to fly straight back to New York. He was suffering from severe stomach pains and was, it would appear, trying to get back to his new wife, Chan. After a couple of agonizing days at home, he was convinced to go to … Continue reading Weekly Post, January 17th, 2020

Tonight, we are celebrating the birthday of Francis Leon Parker, the first of Charlie Parker’s two sons, who was born eighty-two years ago today. It’s the least we can do, given that he lived out his life in obscurity. Charlie … Continue reading Weekly Posting, January 10th, 2020