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Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker
Saxophone virtuoso Charlie "Bird" Parker began playing professionally in his early teens, became a heroin addict at 16, changed the course of music, and then died when only 34 years old. His friend Robert Reisner observed, "Parker, in the brief span of his life, crowded more living into it than any other human being." 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 by pioneering bebop and influenced subsequent generations of musicians. Meticulously researched and written, The Life and Music of Charlie Parker tells the story of his life, music, and career. This new biography artfully weaves together firsthand accounts from those who knew him with new information about his life and career to create a compelling narrative portrait of a tragic genius. While other books about Parker have focused primarily on his music and recordings, this portrait reveals the troubled man behind the music, illustrating how his addictions and struggles with mental health affected his life and career. He was alternatively generous and miserly; a loving husband and father at home but an incorrigible philanderer on the road; and a chronic addict who lectured younger musicians about the dangers of drugs. Above all he was a musician, who overcame humiliation, disappointment, and a life-threatening car wreck to take wing as Bird, a brilliant improviser and composer. With in-depth research into previously overlooked sources and illustrated with several never-before-seen images, The Life and Music of Charlie Parker corrects much of the misinformation and myth about one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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107 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 14, 2013
This is a marvelous biography about legedenary jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker, who was born and raised in Kansas City. His nickname is a shortened version of Yardbird, which is what Charlie called chickens. He liked to eat chicken, and others picked up on the name.
Chuck Haddix tells lively stories about the saxophonist, who was known for his brilliant jazz compositions but also for his drug and alcohol use. Charlie would often disappear before a gig because he was trying to score heroin. One time he went into withdrawal while traveling cross-country, and he wandered off the train in the middle of the desert to try and get drugs.
One of the saddest stories in the book happened in 1936, when Charlie was in a car accident while traveling to a gig in central Missouri. Charlie broke three ribs and fractured his spine. During his recovery, a doctor prescribed heroin to relieve Charlie's pain. But he soon became addicted and struggled with his heroin habit for the rest of his life. It makes one wonder how different his life might have been if he had never been in that crash. Yes, Charlie drank and smoke before then, but maybe he could have avoided a heroin addiction that ultimately ruined him and damaged his career.
However, that sad story is quickly followed by my favorite one in the book, which is how and where Charlie honed his craft. Back in the 1930s, a resort area in southern Missouri called the Ozarks was just starting to get booming, and club owners started bringing in musicians from Kansas City and St. Louis to satisfy the tourists from those bigger cities. At that time and in that part of the country, it wasn't considered safe for blacks to be traveling after dark, so Charlie and other musicians would often remain in the resort town for weeks at a time, until their contract was over. It was during one such stretch in the Ozarks that Charlie had time to really focus on his music and his playing. When he returned to Kansas City a few months later, everyone was blown away by how much he had improved.
"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."
When Parker died in in 1955, he was only 34. But his health had been so poor and his body was so abused by drugs and alcohol that the attending physician judged him to be 53.
Haddix lovingly describes Parker’s compositions and performances, inspiring me to look up and listen to several of Parker's songs. Some of my favorite details in the book were about Kansas City’s history, including where Charlie went to school and how he started playing music, or where the hopping nightclubs were in 1951. This would be a great gift for any jazz fan.
Chuck Haddix tells lively stories about the saxophonist, who was known for his brilliant jazz compositions but also for his drug and alcohol use. Charlie would often disappear before a gig because he was trying to score heroin. One time he went into withdrawal while traveling cross-country, and he wandered off the train in the middle of the desert to try and get drugs.
One of the saddest stories in the book happened in 1936, when Charlie was in a car accident while traveling to a gig in central Missouri. Charlie broke three ribs and fractured his spine. During his recovery, a doctor prescribed heroin to relieve Charlie's pain. But he soon became addicted and struggled with his heroin habit for the rest of his life. It makes one wonder how different his life might have been if he had never been in that crash. Yes, Charlie drank and smoke before then, but maybe he could have avoided a heroin addiction that ultimately ruined him and damaged his career.
However, that sad story is quickly followed by my favorite one in the book, which is how and where Charlie honed his craft. Back in the 1930s, a resort area in southern Missouri called the Ozarks was just starting to get booming, and club owners started bringing in musicians from Kansas City and St. Louis to satisfy the tourists from those bigger cities. At that time and in that part of the country, it wasn't considered safe for blacks to be traveling after dark, so Charlie and other musicians would often remain in the resort town for weeks at a time, until their contract was over. It was during one such stretch in the Ozarks that Charlie had time to really focus on his music and his playing. When he returned to Kansas City a few months later, everyone was blown away by how much he had improved.
"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."
When Parker died in in 1955, he was only 34. But his health had been so poor and his body was so abused by drugs and alcohol that the attending physician judged him to be 53.
Haddix lovingly describes Parker’s compositions and performances, inspiring me to look up and listen to several of Parker's songs. Some of my favorite details in the book were about Kansas City’s history, including where Charlie went to school and how he started playing music, or where the hopping nightclubs were in 1951. This would be a great gift for any jazz fan.
June 17, 2013
(nb: I received an advance review copy from the publisher via NetGalley)
"Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker" is Chuck Haddix's faithful biography of Charlie "Bird" Parker, and I use the adjective "faithful" advisedly.
Writing about Parker poses a few traps for an author. First, you can focus solely on the man, weaving together a tapestry of his triumphs and failures as a human being: bad relationships, alcohol and drug abuse, questionable sanity, unreliability, etc. Second, you could focus solely on the music, how he and Dizzy Gillespie (with a few others) invented "be-bop," and rode that challenging style through periods of favor and enmity.
However the worst pitfall an author could fall into is to whitewash Charlie Parker's life and career, minimizing his faults and shouting his strengths.
Chuck Haddix's new biography avoids these potential mistakes, and presents a concise, well-balanced tale of Charlie Parker, both man and musician.
Parker came out of the legendary Kansas City jazz scene, where his mania for practicing and willingness to learn from old pros shaped him into the phenom known the world over simply as "Bird." (Haddix co-wrote Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop--A History, and his knowledge of the Jazz scene known as "Kaycee" is encyclopedic)
Young Charlie was doted on by his mother, who tolerated his misbehaviors, or at least chose to overlook them. That led to Parker feeling like he could charm his way out of practically anything.
He really could...practically: there came a limit.
As a young musician, he and his band-mates were returning from a gig at a whites-only resort. The car Parker was riding in went off the road, leaving him with severe injuries. For his pain, the doctor prescribed heroin, a drug that would plague Bird throughout his too-short life.
"Bird" follows Charlie Parker's ascendancy from a lower-rung Kansas City club musician to being the most widely celebrated alto saxophonist in America, if not the world. When he was only half in the bag, he was brilliant. When he was clearheaded, his playing defied adjectives. He was a technical virtuoso with a photographic memory, able to make even the most complex music sound effortless.
What he and Gillespie did with bebop was create a musical language that turned its back on the straight swing and ballads of previous jazz eras, and create something so complex as to challenge even the most prodigious talents. The two were up to the task.
Bird and Dizzy had a love-hate relationship professionally. They were the Ruth and Gehrig of bebop. Parker was Babe Ruth, larger than life with huge appetites and human weaknesses, while Gillespie was Lou Gehrig: always where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there, always primed and ready to play. Despite their essential co-creation of bebop, their professional relationship was strained.
Eventually, Parker strained and destroyed a lot of professional relationships, with agents, record companies, club-owners, and plenty of his fellow musicians.
He strained and destroyed plenty of personal relationships as well. His infidelities and drug abuse ended two marriages, and were taking their toll on his common-law third wife. He bled friendships dry by borrowing money he never repaid, nor even intended to repay.
Through it all, there was just something so damned special about Charlie Parker. He could be charming and kind, and generous to a fault. As a musician, he could be a consummate professional, showing up on-time and ready to play, night-after-night. As a husband and father, he could be amazingly attentive and loving.
There were two sides to Charlie Parker. He could be part-angel, yet he was constantly chased by demons.
There was also the duality of Parker as a man and a musician, and Haddix follows both carefully, and manages to combine this genius's incredible story into a taut, very readable book less than 200 pages long (one could write thousands of pages about Charlie Parker).
"Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker" is aptly named, for unlike most biographies, this book delves into the musical specifics of Bird's genius. We meet all manner of musicians he played with, and learn some of the technical elements that made bebop bebop.
If you are completely unfamiliar with Jazz or music in general, there will be some passages that might be slightly difficult to comprehend, but those are rare. If you are a true Jazz-head (as am I), you'll relish every detail.
"Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker" does an excellent job of covering both elements of the man known as Bird: the world where his struggles were legion, and the one where he soared oh so high.
Recommended.
"Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker" is Chuck Haddix's faithful biography of Charlie "Bird" Parker, and I use the adjective "faithful" advisedly.
Writing about Parker poses a few traps for an author. First, you can focus solely on the man, weaving together a tapestry of his triumphs and failures as a human being: bad relationships, alcohol and drug abuse, questionable sanity, unreliability, etc. Second, you could focus solely on the music, how he and Dizzy Gillespie (with a few others) invented "be-bop," and rode that challenging style through periods of favor and enmity.
However the worst pitfall an author could fall into is to whitewash Charlie Parker's life and career, minimizing his faults and shouting his strengths.
Chuck Haddix's new biography avoids these potential mistakes, and presents a concise, well-balanced tale of Charlie Parker, both man and musician.
Parker came out of the legendary Kansas City jazz scene, where his mania for practicing and willingness to learn from old pros shaped him into the phenom known the world over simply as "Bird." (Haddix co-wrote Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop--A History, and his knowledge of the Jazz scene known as "Kaycee" is encyclopedic)
Young Charlie was doted on by his mother, who tolerated his misbehaviors, or at least chose to overlook them. That led to Parker feeling like he could charm his way out of practically anything.
He really could...practically: there came a limit.
As a young musician, he and his band-mates were returning from a gig at a whites-only resort. The car Parker was riding in went off the road, leaving him with severe injuries. For his pain, the doctor prescribed heroin, a drug that would plague Bird throughout his too-short life.
"Bird" follows Charlie Parker's ascendancy from a lower-rung Kansas City club musician to being the most widely celebrated alto saxophonist in America, if not the world. When he was only half in the bag, he was brilliant. When he was clearheaded, his playing defied adjectives. He was a technical virtuoso with a photographic memory, able to make even the most complex music sound effortless.
What he and Gillespie did with bebop was create a musical language that turned its back on the straight swing and ballads of previous jazz eras, and create something so complex as to challenge even the most prodigious talents. The two were up to the task.
Bird and Dizzy had a love-hate relationship professionally. They were the Ruth and Gehrig of bebop. Parker was Babe Ruth, larger than life with huge appetites and human weaknesses, while Gillespie was Lou Gehrig: always where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there, always primed and ready to play. Despite their essential co-creation of bebop, their professional relationship was strained.
Eventually, Parker strained and destroyed a lot of professional relationships, with agents, record companies, club-owners, and plenty of his fellow musicians.
He strained and destroyed plenty of personal relationships as well. His infidelities and drug abuse ended two marriages, and were taking their toll on his common-law third wife. He bled friendships dry by borrowing money he never repaid, nor even intended to repay.
Through it all, there was just something so damned special about Charlie Parker. He could be charming and kind, and generous to a fault. As a musician, he could be a consummate professional, showing up on-time and ready to play, night-after-night. As a husband and father, he could be amazingly attentive and loving.
There were two sides to Charlie Parker. He could be part-angel, yet he was constantly chased by demons.
There was also the duality of Parker as a man and a musician, and Haddix follows both carefully, and manages to combine this genius's incredible story into a taut, very readable book less than 200 pages long (one could write thousands of pages about Charlie Parker).
"Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker" is aptly named, for unlike most biographies, this book delves into the musical specifics of Bird's genius. We meet all manner of musicians he played with, and learn some of the technical elements that made bebop bebop.
If you are completely unfamiliar with Jazz or music in general, there will be some passages that might be slightly difficult to comprehend, but those are rare. If you are a true Jazz-head (as am I), you'll relish every detail.
"Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker" does an excellent job of covering both elements of the man known as Bird: the world where his struggles were legion, and the one where he soared oh so high.
Recommended.
June 30, 2024
It is an informative, straightforward biography of Charlie Parker. There is a lot of essential information here, and if I have to be picky, it's the photographs in the book that are unique compared to other Parker-related books. He signed his records at a record store, and an autographed photo of Parker was made out to Boris Vian! That alone is worth it.
July 19, 2013
Via NetGalley, I received a copy of this book from University of Illinois Press for the purposes of reading and reviewing it. Note this book is not scheduled for publication until September 16, 2013, so this should be considered a review of an advanced copy, not a finished product.
So much has been written about Charlie Parker, it would seem that unless some previously undiscovered diary maintained by The Bird shows up, there can’t be much more to tell. I’ve read several books about Parker, perused many outstanding online sites dedicated to him, listened to his music literally for decades, and generally have been a fan for some time. So with that in mind, I decided to approach this book as though I knew nothing about Parker other than his music. It didn’t seem fair to penalize the author for my prior readings.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the way this book was put together. It covers not just Bird’s life, but the life of his parents leading up to and following his birth. It certainly pulls no punches, but at the same time was a fair account of the enigma that was Charlie Parker. At times he was unfailingly kind to others, telling up-and-coming musicians to avoid drugs (as Parker himself had been addicted to heroin, originally for pain management, since a car accident in his teens) and to do as he says, not as he does. Other times, he is inexplicably distant and cold, and not always are the drugs to blame.
As a fan of his music, I really loved reading about the evolution of Parker’s style as well as his affiliation and, sadly, alienation of his musical peers. I was also left with a sense of wonder at how, when the rubber met the road, Parker could create incredible music, even when high or drunk. I’m left to wonder whether he would have been the same musician and creative genius without his addiction or, in some bizarre way, it helped define who he was musically.
The only area I wish Haddix had delved into more was the months or years following Parker’s death and maybe a glance at what happened to his wives and children.
I definitely recommend this book as a great source for fans of Parker, music, and biographies in general. The bibliography and end notes are worth gold by themselves.
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
So much has been written about Charlie Parker, it would seem that unless some previously undiscovered diary maintained by The Bird shows up, there can’t be much more to tell. I’ve read several books about Parker, perused many outstanding online sites dedicated to him, listened to his music literally for decades, and generally have been a fan for some time. So with that in mind, I decided to approach this book as though I knew nothing about Parker other than his music. It didn’t seem fair to penalize the author for my prior readings.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the way this book was put together. It covers not just Bird’s life, but the life of his parents leading up to and following his birth. It certainly pulls no punches, but at the same time was a fair account of the enigma that was Charlie Parker. At times he was unfailingly kind to others, telling up-and-coming musicians to avoid drugs (as Parker himself had been addicted to heroin, originally for pain management, since a car accident in his teens) and to do as he says, not as he does. Other times, he is inexplicably distant and cold, and not always are the drugs to blame.
As a fan of his music, I really loved reading about the evolution of Parker’s style as well as his affiliation and, sadly, alienation of his musical peers. I was also left with a sense of wonder at how, when the rubber met the road, Parker could create incredible music, even when high or drunk. I’m left to wonder whether he would have been the same musician and creative genius without his addiction or, in some bizarre way, it helped define who he was musically.
The only area I wish Haddix had delved into more was the months or years following Parker’s death and maybe a glance at what happened to his wives and children.
I definitely recommend this book as a great source for fans of Parker, music, and biographies in general. The bibliography and end notes are worth gold by themselves.
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
January 8, 2014
I am not a fan of jazz, I had to read this for a book club. I did enjoy the first chapter, reading about the history of Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO, sadly that was the only part I enjoyed. Way too much detail about where the gig was and who was there, not enough about the man. The discussion was very illuminating, tho. Our members decided that Bird was his music and without appreciating his music, you cannot know or appreciate the man. So, I recommend this to folks who love jazz and love Bird.
August 31, 2023
Bit dry but cuts through the vast noise of a life crowded with folklore and various fabrications to deliver a well-rounded overview. You could never accuse this study of being poorly researched, but reading it makes you just want to get back to Bird's music. Maybe this is a legend best listened to rather than explained. They say at his passing an unusually loud thunder clap shook the area. The book postulates that Parker simply vaporized into one final burst of "pure sound", and I would tend to agree.
December 19, 2024
I purchased this book without investigating what the content would be, and my assumption that the book would largely concern the music of Charlie Parker due to the phrasing of the title. Much to my dismay, it was more about the story of Charlie Parker's life and relationships, with very little discussion of specific influences on his playing or development. There a couple fun facts in the book, but it felt a lot more like a travel log than anything else.
September 5, 2020
I intended to read this book after seeing Seattle Opera's production of "Charlie Parker's Yardbird" on 29 February. I finally received this 6 months after placing it on hold at Seattle Public Library. Unfortunately, while the author was knowledgable about Parker's musical impact in terms of what and how he played, this dispassionate account lacked a meaningful context for Bird's life beyond the why's of his substance addictions and the abysmal racism of the United States. The reader is told that Charlie Parker was smart, well read, and a musical genius but we don't really get a sense of his motivations, his passions, his inspirations, his reading, or the real complexities of his relationships.
June 25, 2017
Great, short, but very complete biography of Bird.
July 2, 2020
Succinct and lucid, and of course makes you want to immerse yourself in his music.
July 11, 2020
Bird
Really enjoyed reading this page flipper. Provider me a greater understanding of the man, his life, his music and career.
Really enjoyed reading this page flipper. Provider me a greater understanding of the man, his life, his music and career.
February 1, 2022
Me encantó. Falto un poco de detalles a nivel musical, pero está brutal. Un tipo que aportó demasiado a la humanidad, pero era un retorcido; un desastre.
September 16, 2022
Technical analysis of Charlie Parker - his life and his music. I’d never listened to his music with such rapt attention to the layers and nuances
August 23, 2023
A very thorough bio of one of the greatest jazz musicians ever.
July 15, 2014
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5
Anyone who has even a passing interest in jazz music should know who Charlie "Bird" Parker is. And for those of us who are inspired by his music should be interested in a biography really letting us know he was. Sadly, this book doesn't give us too much.
In one paragraph: Charlie "Bird" Parker was focussed on two things. His music. Getting high. He had exceptional talent, played with lots of famous people, but was addicted to drugs and died from that addiction.
That's the book.
There are a lot of familiar names in the book. People whom Charlie played with or was at least contemporaries with, who are mentioned quite regularly, and are very recognizable names in jazz music. But never once did I get an impression of what Charlie thought of these people.
While a biography typically works best in a time-line format, there isn't much here other than a listing of where he played and who he played with. In his early days, we do learn about a doting mother and a girl-friend/wife whom he abandons to travel across the country and play music, but even these early days are filled up more with when he played certain gigs or how he talked his way in to the gigs. But for me, what I hope to get out of a biography is what made the man tick? What shaped his future and his abilities? Where did he develop the drive to play the way he did? Most of these questions are not answered, and those that are, could just as easily have come from watching the Clint Eastwood film, Bird.
I look for a biography to tell me a little something about what made the man (or woman) who he (or she) is. What can we find in his past or his education or his upbringing that was special or a trigger to bringing out the talent for which he is known. In this biography we do get a little information on his school days and that he practiced his horn a lot. Possibly as much as eleven hours a day. But we also learn that others thought of him as lazy.
But I think we miss the biggest opportunity, or the trigger, that changed him. The impression of Charlie in his early band days was:
Charlie was even fired from some of his early gigs. And while we come to understand that humiliation was the motivation for Charlie to improve,we only learn that he practiced a lot (and got married) and returned to the bands a stronger musician.
What did he find? What brought about not only a change but the sudden rise to stardom? Was it simply a lot of practice? Or did he suddenly discover something about music, or his horn, or himself? This missing piece of information seems crucial to me.
At times I felt there was a little too much listing of names and songs. It's likely the easiest information to track down, but it started to sound as though what identified Charlie Parker was not himself, but the people he knew and the songs he played.
There's a lot of information here and I appreciate the research that went in to this book, though I'm disappointed at what's missing.
Looking for a good book? Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker is a nice look at a jazz legend, though it misses a few crucial points in his life.
Anyone who has even a passing interest in jazz music should know who Charlie "Bird" Parker is. And for those of us who are inspired by his music should be interested in a biography really letting us know he was. Sadly, this book doesn't give us too much.
In one paragraph: Charlie "Bird" Parker was focussed on two things. His music. Getting high. He had exceptional talent, played with lots of famous people, but was addicted to drugs and died from that addiction.
That's the book.
There are a lot of familiar names in the book. People whom Charlie played with or was at least contemporaries with, who are mentioned quite regularly, and are very recognizable names in jazz music. But never once did I get an impression of what Charlie thought of these people.
While a biography typically works best in a time-line format, there isn't much here other than a listing of where he played and who he played with. In his early days, we do learn about a doting mother and a girl-friend/wife whom he abandons to travel across the country and play music, but even these early days are filled up more with when he played certain gigs or how he talked his way in to the gigs. But for me, what I hope to get out of a biography is what made the man tick? What shaped his future and his abilities? Where did he develop the drive to play the way he did? Most of these questions are not answered, and those that are, could just as easily have come from watching the Clint Eastwood film, Bird.
I look for a biography to tell me a little something about what made the man (or woman) who he (or she) is. What can we find in his past or his education or his upbringing that was special or a trigger to bringing out the talent for which he is known. In this biography we do get a little information on his school days and that he practiced his horn a lot. Possibly as much as eleven hours a day. But we also learn that others thought of him as lazy.
But I think we miss the biggest opportunity, or the trigger, that changed him. The impression of Charlie in his early band days was:
"He had a thin, sweet tone that was pretty bad. I would see him from time to time and each time there was some improvement but not enough to show much chance of him ever becoming more than adequate musician." ... "He was very green. If you had told me then that he would be famous I wouldn't have believed it. He had a lot to learn."
Charlie was even fired from some of his early gigs. And while we come to understand that humiliation was the motivation for Charlie to improve,we only learn that he practiced a lot (and got married) and returned to the bands a stronger musician.
"When he came back, the difference was unbelievable." ... "...six months before he had been like a cryin' saxophone player." Equipped with his new alto, seventeen-year-old Charlie became an in-demand soloist on Twelfth Street.
What did he find? What brought about not only a change but the sudden rise to stardom? Was it simply a lot of practice? Or did he suddenly discover something about music, or his horn, or himself? This missing piece of information seems crucial to me.
At times I felt there was a little too much listing of names and songs. It's likely the easiest information to track down, but it started to sound as though what identified Charlie Parker was not himself, but the people he knew and the songs he played.
There's a lot of information here and I appreciate the research that went in to this book, though I'm disappointed at what's missing.
Looking for a good book? Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker is a nice look at a jazz legend, though it misses a few crucial points in his life.
April 13, 2014
The book was well structured. It provided a very informative and logical walk through of Bird's life while remaining interesting with its narrative style of writing and extended anecdotes. The book read very easily being more story-like. While it was a biography, Haddix does subtly include his personal opinions in the facts. The facts do inform his personal assessments of Bird's life, and for the most part his conclusions are logical, but it is important to recognize their presence and that they portray a single very vivid perception of Bird's life. Overall, the book is very informative and fun to read. I recommend it to anyone interested in jazz history and culture.
October 31, 2013
There is so much hype, nonsense and legend concerning the life of Charlie Parker, it was very nice to find a book that sticks to the facts. And that's what this book is. There are no phrases like 'must have', 'might of', or 'almost certainly did'. There is also no made up dialogue here. Just the facts. On the negative side, a discography should have been included.
October 6, 2014
This book is full of all the material you would need to to write a great biography of Charlie Parker. But the stories are not told in a very captivating way. It is strictly chronological and full of a lot of detail; I was craving a highlights reel where the most salient aspects of Parker came to light. This was not that.
January 2, 2014
A good read most of the time, but some pages would suddenly read as if there were written for a university essay.
Also there were a few small but not insignificant events that were not detailed in the book. I found that a tad disappointing
Also there were a few small but not insignificant events that were not detailed in the book. I found that a tad disappointing
October 15, 2013
Short account of the life of the great bebop saxophonist--his triumphs and tragedy. Features a lot of anecdotes from fiends and musicians.
Read
October 22, 2013Excellent living document on Bird.
Currently reading
April 25, 2014Author:featured speaker at Midwest Archives Conference in Kansas City, started an archive of recordings from The Call 1919-1943, does radio, archive work in KC.
March 31, 2017
An extremely short overview of Charlie Parker's life. Goodreads has the book listed as 224 pages, but a lot of that is notes. The book actually ends on page 164. In that small amount of space it would be impossible to chronicle anyone's life, let alone some one as important artistically and troubled personally as Parker. There isn't a lot of details about recording sessions, producers, etc. You won't read much about Bird's tone and how he may or may not have worked to achieve it. You will read little of quotes from fellow musicians that played with Parker or current musicians speaking of his legacy.
This biography is a good primer on Parker's life and you do read some interesting stories. It is written well. It does provide some information about Parker's multiple marriages and touches on the frustration fellow musicians like Dizzy Gillespie felt working with Bird. Of course part of the problem with a new bio about artists from this era is that there aren't many musicians left to use as prime sources. A writer therefore is forced to use interviews that have probably been picked over by other researchers and the true jazz aficionados.
This is a pleasant overview and an extremely quick read. The writing is clean and the author has researched the subject. It's a great jumping in point but ultimately you'll want a larger biography to follow.
This biography is a good primer on Parker's life and you do read some interesting stories. It is written well. It does provide some information about Parker's multiple marriages and touches on the frustration fellow musicians like Dizzy Gillespie felt working with Bird. Of course part of the problem with a new bio about artists from this era is that there aren't many musicians left to use as prime sources. A writer therefore is forced to use interviews that have probably been picked over by other researchers and the true jazz aficionados.
This is a pleasant overview and an extremely quick read. The writing is clean and the author has researched the subject. It's a great jumping in point but ultimately you'll want a larger biography to follow.
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