ABSTRACT
Alto Saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker significantly changed the American soundscape. The way was prepared for him by early jazz, which culminated in the perfected New Orleans/Chicago of the 1920’s and the “swing bands” of the 1930’s. Parker was worshipped not only by musicians, but also by artists, writers and “hip” people who felt his music spoke to their condition. His “myth“ has been told and retold. Bird was right in the middle of the KC African American reaffirmation of the Blues in the 1930’s. An event which Ben Sidran considers a defining moment of an African American culture which cannot be understood without understanding its music, which its other more prosaic forms of communication follow. His parents were Addie Boyley, part Native American, and Charles, Senior, nomadic vaudeville minstrel, rail chef and small time hustler from Memphis. He had an inquiring mind, many interests and is one of the greatest figures American music has produced.
