00:00:05
(jazz music)
00:00:46
- When I hear Charlie Parker,
what goes through my mind
00:00:49
is the epitome of what
jazz is supposed to be.
00:00:53
We're talking about an
unbelievable amount of soul.
00:00:57
We're talking about a guy
00:00:59
that is able to express himself so purely.
00:01:05
(jazz music)
00:01:11
- The beauty of his sound,
00:01:14
it's very beautiful, very lyrical,
00:01:17
and his clarity in his
communication of ideas
00:01:24
from his mind through
his heart, to his horn,
00:01:30
the connection sounds and feels complete.
00:01:35
(jazz music)
00:01:46
- I would put it like
maybe George or Williams
00:01:49
where he really is a future teller,
00:01:54
it's there, sure, documented in 1947,
00:01:58
but really it's like so
far valid beyond 2027.
00:02:03
There's an entire universe that exists
00:02:05
inside of what he presents
within a five second span,
00:02:11
even less, to be honest.
00:02:12
(jazz music)
00:02:20
- You Google great alto saxophone break
00:02:24
and what comes up is what he did
00:02:27
when Dizzy Gillespie and him
recorded "Night in Tunisia".
00:02:32
A break in the salt, that's
where at the end of the course,
00:02:35
they give you two bars or four bars,
00:02:37
sometimes even eight
bars to end your solo.
00:02:40
(scat singing)
00:02:46
Three, four.
00:02:48
What he did in them four bars,
00:02:50
everybody is still talking about him.
00:02:52
Google it, don't listen to me.
00:02:57
(jazz music)
00:03:11
(jazz music)
00:03:26
- Charlie Parker was
born August 29th, 1920
00:03:30
at 852 Freeman in Kansas City, Kansas.
00:03:33
And it was a two bedroom
apartment above a grocery store.
00:03:39
And his grandmother lived up the hill
00:03:42
and his half brother lived up the hill
00:03:44
and they'd get together and
play in front of his house.
00:03:47
He called his half brother Ikey.
00:03:49
And he lived there until 1927
00:03:54
when his family moved to
Kansas City, Missouri.
00:03:58
(jazz music)
00:04:06
- Bird had those experiences
similar to the ones I had,
00:04:11
elementary school band,
starting an instrument early,
00:04:14
those things, music was
very strong back then
00:04:17
and that's part of being in Kansas City,
00:04:19
having a strong instrumental program.
00:04:22
- Charlie first picked up the saxophone
00:04:24
when he was in fifth grade,
00:04:25
when the Kansas School District
instituted the music program
00:04:28
in Penn school.
00:04:30
And his mother bought him
a $40 horn in a pawn shop
00:04:36
and Lawrence Keyes
00:04:38
described as being ragged as a pet monkey.
00:04:40
He grew up in the heyday
of Kansas City jazz,
00:04:43
when he was coming up, Bennie
Moten was really at its peak,
00:04:47
the Moten band was at its peak.
00:04:48
(jazz music)
00:05:06
Kansas city was a hotbed for jazz
00:05:07
because the Pendergast prosperity,
00:05:10
the government fostered
vice in corruption.
00:05:13
And there were clubs
stretching from the river
00:05:16
to out South in the County to 75th street.
00:05:19
Mary Lou Williams recalled
50 clubs featuring live,
00:05:23
usually between 12th and 18th street
00:05:25
and vices of all kinds were available.
00:05:27
On 15th street was the red light district
00:05:31
to stretch for blocks.
00:05:34
From downtown 12th street
was just a line of clubs.
00:05:38
Dave Dexter estimated there
were as many as 20 clubs
00:05:41
in a single block.
00:05:42
We were also gambling in the front windows
00:05:45
and any kind of vice you wanted,
00:05:47
marijuana was readily
available as was narcotics.
00:05:50
And so musicians from the
Southwestern territories
00:05:53
came to Kansas City where
they could find work.
00:05:58
- It's inconceivable to
imagine a Charlie Parker
00:06:03
being born in Oklahoma or
Philly or any place else,
00:06:07
and being able to nurture
his art on that level.
00:06:11
And not that there wasn't
great jazz going on in Philly
00:06:14
or a lot of other places,
00:06:16
but here in Kansas city at that time,
00:06:19
when you have all this row of clubs
00:06:24
and they're going all night long,
00:06:26
seven days a week.
00:06:27
- And he began playing as a teenager
00:06:30
when he was 15 years old.
00:06:33
his first group was
called 10 Cords of Rhythm,
00:06:35
later the 12 Chords of Rhythm,
00:06:37
a group led by Lawrence Keyes,
00:06:39
it played well right across
the street at 18th and Vine
00:06:42
in the Lincoln building at Lincoln Hall.
00:06:45
And it was a kid band
and they were nonunion,
00:06:47
but they made more
money than union members
00:06:49
because they played for the door.
00:06:53
And it was a very popular hall
00:06:55
for Lincoln High School students.
00:06:59
And so they would pack the place
00:07:01
and that's really where he
got his start professionally.
00:07:05
(soft music)
00:07:19
(jazz music)
00:10:58
(jazz music)
00:11:04
- I've been listening to
Charlie Parker since I was,
00:11:07
well, ever since I can remember,
00:11:08
he was a friend of my
father and my mother.
00:11:10
So he used to drive us
down through all the areas
00:11:14
where the cherry blossom
and where the Reno Club
00:11:18
and the Hey Hey Club, he used
to tell us about these places.
00:11:21
- His favorite roost was a balcony
00:11:24
above the Reno Club bandstand
where the marijuana smoked
00:11:28
from the Basie Band smoking
reefers on the bandstand
00:11:32
would waft upstairs.
00:11:33
- This was their heyday,
00:11:34
they tell us about the
all night jam sessions
00:11:37
and the Reno club where
you could buy reefer in it
00:11:41
and stuff, that's part of the menu.
00:11:44
(jazz music)
00:11:53
He came from an era that
was very unforgiving too.
00:11:58
And I know that just from
listening to my father
00:12:01
and his friends talk about me.
00:12:03
And so, I mean, I didn't get a free pass
00:12:07
with my dad and his friends
when I was learning how to play.
00:12:10
Either you saying something or you not
00:12:13
and I'm sure Charlie Parker's era
00:12:15
because these were the guys of his era,
00:12:18
that were molding my way of thinking.
00:12:20
- In spring of 1936, he
sat in on a jam session
00:12:23
at the Reno Club where
the Basie Band was playing
00:12:27
and he faltered while
soloing on "Honeysuckle Rose"
00:12:30
forgot the changes and Joe Jones
threw a cymbal at his feet.
00:12:33
- Do you know, everybody wants to talk
00:12:34
about when Charlie Parker
got gonged by Joe Jones,
00:12:37
but the part that you don't realize
00:12:39
is he was back the next
night or the week later.
00:12:43
And he had done that
and it's this particular
00:12:46
Joe Jones said, "I can't
hear this no longer."
00:12:49
But it don't mean that he can't come back,
00:12:52
it just means, "Okay, we've
had enough tonight, Bird,
00:12:55
"got to go."
00:12:56
- He was publicly humiliated,
but also it inspired him
00:13:00
to go to the woodshed
as musicians would say
00:13:02
to practice his horn.
00:13:04
So he retreated at the Addie's house
00:13:08
and he played his horn
sometimes 12 to 14 hours a day.
00:13:13
And he said he would never
get caught short again.
00:13:17
So Joe Jones actually did him a big favor
00:13:20
by humiliating him publicly.
00:13:23
♪ They like WHDH ♪
00:13:26
- [Paul] Another thing
that's been a major factor
00:13:31
in your playing is this
fantastic technique
00:13:34
that nobody's quite equal to.
00:13:36
I always wondered about that too,
00:13:37
whether that came behind practicing
00:13:43
or whether that was just from playing,
00:13:46
whether it evolved gradually.
00:13:48
- [Charlie] Well, you make
it so hard for me to answer,
00:13:52
because I can't see whether
there's anything fantastic
00:13:55
about it at all.
00:13:56
I put quite a bit of study
into the horn, that's true.
00:13:59
In fact, the neighbors threatened
to ask my mother to move
00:14:02
once when we were living out West.
00:14:05
She said I was driving
them crazy with the horn,
00:14:07
I used to put in at least
11 to 15 hours a day.
00:14:10
- [Paul] Yeah, that's what I wondered.
00:14:12
- [Charlie] That's true, yes.
00:14:13
So I did that for over a
period of three or four years.
00:14:16
- If you listen to the precision,
00:14:18
the specific nature of
everything, the dexterity
00:14:22
you can't do that without
thousands of hours of practice
00:14:26
in a particular isolated space
00:14:28
and thousands of hours of
actual application in public
00:14:33
or whatever type of wide communal
spaces with other people.
00:14:36
That's the only way you get to that level.
00:14:38
Natural talent only serves you so far,
00:14:40
hard work is the thing
00:14:41
that really is like the germinating factor
00:14:44
for the seed that you're
you're planting in the ground.
00:14:49
- [Charlie] Study is absolutely
necessary in all forms.
00:14:52
It's just like any talent
that's born within somebody,
00:14:55
it's just like a good pair of shoes
00:14:56
when you put a shine on it, you know?
00:14:59
Like schooling brings out
the polish of any talent,
00:15:03
that happens anywhere in the world.
00:15:06
Einstein had schooling,
00:15:08
but he has a definite
genius within himself.
00:15:12
Schooling is one of the
most wonderful things
00:15:15
there's ever been.
00:15:16
- Everybody knew Charlie Parker
would be down in the park
00:15:19
back then they used to
call it Persale Park,
00:15:22
now they call it Parade Park.
00:15:24
Back in Persale Park,
00:15:25
he'd be practicing his
horn in the afternoon,
00:15:27
just in the park practicing.
00:15:30
Him and my dad were real good friends,
00:15:32
he used to come my father, Sir James.
00:15:34
He used to go swing by
the park and pick up Bird
00:15:37
and Charlie Parker wouldn't miss a lead,
00:15:39
he'd still keep practicing.
00:15:41
(scat singing)
00:15:42
And so he'd be riding
through the neighborhood
00:15:44
in his convertible with my mom
00:15:47
and Charlie Parker playing
00:15:48
and in my mind, I'm like, oh my God.
00:15:52
(jazz music)
00:15:55
That was just an example
00:15:57
of how you always knew what
Charlie Parker was doing.
00:16:01
He was always playing.
00:16:03
So he's at the park, practicing all day,
00:16:06
sitting in the park all day playing
00:16:08
and then at night he was
bass in them struck up
00:16:12
or Jay McShane or anybody,
00:16:14
anybody that's got the hidden bands.
00:16:17
He'd go from place to place
sitting in with everybody,
00:16:21
all night long.
00:16:22
And so he lived it and
he's a perfect example
00:16:29
of artists living it.
00:16:31
I mean, and he said that, he said,
00:16:33
"If you don't live it, it
won't come out your horn."
00:16:35
(jazz music)
00:16:41
- There a number of watershed
incidents in Charlie's life.
00:16:44
He was on his way to a gig
at Musser's Ozark Tavern,
00:16:48
which was five miles
South of Elgin, Missouri,
00:16:51
and the car flipped over
and threw him out of the car
00:16:56
and it killed George
Wilkerson, the leader,
00:16:58
and threw his buddy, Ernie Daniel,
00:17:00
60 feet into a plowed field.
00:17:02
And it broke Charlie's
ribs and it broke his back
00:17:06
and it destroyed his horn.
00:17:07
So Mr. Musser bought him a new
Selmer which gave him a lift,
00:17:10
but it also gave him a habit
00:17:12
because they prescribed
heroin for his pain
00:17:15
and he developed a taste for heroin
00:17:19
and he struggled with
that the rest of his life.
00:17:22
- And I feel like that other side
00:17:23
is what people target a lot
00:17:25
when they speak about Charlie Parker.
00:17:27
All I know is that what
was left for me to examine
00:17:32
is this wonderful body of work.
00:17:35
Genre wise, whatever I
could ever sound like,
00:17:38
it's only important that everyone knows
00:17:41
it would not exist if it
was not for Charlie Parker.
00:17:44
(jazz music)
00:18:24
- It's so authentic, it's
so real, it's so raw,
00:18:30
it's perfect.
00:18:31
Even though it squeaks in
the bad notes are perfect
00:18:35
because that's what life is.
00:18:38
The scars that we get, they
represent our experiences
00:18:44
and Charlie Parker,
when you hear him play,
00:18:47
you hear the scars, you hear the laughter,
00:18:51
you hear the pain, you hear
the beauty, you hear all of it.
00:18:57
And there are very few
musicians that can do it
00:19:02
as obviously and as profound.
00:19:05
And he's not even a singer,
00:19:07
he does it with an inanimate object.
00:19:11
When I reference my horn, I say,
00:19:15
"I'm gonna go spend
some time with my horn,"
00:19:18
versus, "I'm going to
go practice my horn."
00:19:21
And that changes everything
00:19:22
because the relationship
with the instrument
00:19:24
and my instrument in
particular is a relationship,
00:19:28
it's just that, it's
not a practice session.
00:19:31
The instrument knows when you love it
00:19:34
and it will beat you up
if you take two weeks off
00:19:36
and you try to come back,
just like any relationship.
00:19:38
You don't call somebody for two weeks,
00:19:39
you're supposed to call
00:19:40
and they know that's the
nature of your relationship.
00:19:42
You didn't do what you
were supposed to do.
00:19:43
I mean, this horn has taken me
00:19:46
all around the world, all the time,
00:19:48
because the one thing that exists
00:19:50
all around the world for sure
00:19:51
are jazz festivals, jazz
scenes, music, arts.
00:19:55
I can go anywhere in the
world, not speak the language,
00:19:58
but if I have this horn, I
immediately will have a life.
00:20:03
(jazz music)
00:21:40
Love you, Bird.
00:21:41
- Ultimately, all of this
plumbing and metal and stuff
00:21:48
is supposed to be an extension of you.
00:21:51
The ultimate goal is to express yourself,
00:21:55
whether you're doing it with a trumpet
00:21:57
or a saxophone or a piano.
00:22:01
In their time, it had no
value to be able to say,
00:22:05
"I sound just like Duke Ellington
00:22:08
"or this guy here sounds
just like Lester Young,
00:22:12
"or he's just like pops."
00:22:17
That has really no
value in the big picture
00:22:22
of what jazz is about or any art.
00:22:27
I wanna hear you, I wanna get to know you.
00:22:30
So if you can paint just like Picasso,
00:22:35
at best you can only become
a second best Picasso.
00:22:41
(jazz music)
00:24:12
(audience claps)
00:24:14
- Our power is moving the
air with sound, you know?
00:24:19
Listening to a record
that moves the air too.
00:24:22
But being in front of the live music
00:24:26
in a room where the air
is being transformed
00:24:28
and the molecules are being
transformed by the sound,
00:24:34
that's an experience, you know, live.
00:24:38
(soft music)
00:24:45
- And then the third
watershed period in his life
00:24:47
is the summer of 1937 when he
went with Georgia Lee's band
00:24:53
back to Musser's Ozark Tavern.
00:24:55
And you know, that's an
area known as little Dixie
00:24:59
where shunned down communities,
00:25:00
where African Americans better
not be caught after dark.
00:25:05
And so they stayed on site
and kept a low profile.
00:25:08
And Charlie spent all
that summer practicing.
00:25:11
- Charlie Parker is somebody that was born
00:25:14
basically right at World War I.
00:25:17
He lived and died only
ever seeing black only
00:25:19
and white only everything.
00:25:21
So he never knew anything
else, except this.
00:25:24
(soft music)
00:25:35
- That's the way it was and
that's the way it still is.
00:25:41
It's not so overt
00:25:46
and for a black person
it'll drive you crazy,
00:25:52
trying to keep your eye on what's real
00:25:59
and hesitating to judge people
00:26:07
and struggling to trust people
00:26:18
while being on the lookout
00:26:21
for the elephant in the room.
00:26:29
I think our biggest problem
now, the unconscious racism.
00:26:34
I like to say racism,
the unconscious racism.
00:26:41
To call somebody a racist,
I think that's more extreme,
00:26:46
that has a definition.
00:26:48
But racism shows itself in many ways
00:26:55
without white people ever knowing.
00:26:59
- [Director] I grew up here.
00:27:00
Why didn't I learn about
Charlie Parker growing up?
00:27:06
- Okay, let's have some real conversation.
00:27:08
I grew up in Kansas City, had
it not been for my father.
00:27:12
I wouldn't even know about the
history of Kansas City jazz.
00:27:15
One of the greatest jam
sessions that ever took place
00:27:18
in the history of jazz, took
place right here in Kansas City
00:27:21
around 18th and Vine street area,
00:27:23
between Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.
00:27:26
All of that was erased.
00:27:28
I think that the people
that are influential
00:27:35
in deciding the image that
they want Kansas City to have
00:27:41
wanted to erase that whole Pendergast era,
00:27:44
the whole 18th and Vine Street,
00:27:47
people going partying all
night and jazz going on.
00:27:50
I think, they wanna be known
as the city of fountains
00:27:55
and they wanna have a
statue of Winston Churchill
00:27:59
on the Country Club Plaza.
00:28:00
Now I got nothing against
fountains or Winston Churchill,
00:28:05
but the bottom line is that,
00:28:10
who has more to do with
our authentic history,
00:28:14
Charlie Parker or Winston Churchill?
00:28:19
What image do people think of worldwide
00:28:23
when they think of Kansas City?
00:28:24
Do they think of jazz or do
they think of the fountains?
00:28:29
Again, it's hard to not be somewhat blunt.
00:28:32
I think because a lot
of it is black history.
00:28:35
- Because it was black
music man, that's it,
00:28:41
it's that simple.
00:28:42
We're influenced by what
we see and what we hear.
00:28:46
I mean, I wish I could
think of another reason.
00:28:49
I don't have to get angry,
I don't need a soap box.
00:28:54
I don't need a podium because
that's not what I'm about.
00:28:57
When people come to the
gig, they wanna hear music,
00:29:01
but you still have an
obligation to make them think,
00:29:05
to make them reminisce,
to make them dream,
00:29:09
to make them forget.
00:29:11
That's our job and that's our calling.
00:29:15
And that's what I heard from Bird,
00:29:16
and as we circle back that's all in Bird,
00:29:21
what I'm talking about.
00:29:23
The jazz musicians, the
Charlie Parker in them
00:29:27
that's why when they got
on a stage and they played,
00:29:29
that was a beacon of hope and light.
00:29:34
And you can see all that,
their pain and their struggle
00:29:38
and their triumph over
adversity, that's what that was.
00:29:42
- When they asked me about Bird,
00:29:43
I hear triumph over adversity.
00:29:47
And it was in all of them.
00:29:49
Some people like to step
around things, you can't.
00:29:51
You gotta go through
things to get to yourself
00:29:55
because no one just
rises out of the ground.
00:29:57
You got to come through something.
00:30:00
- Back to Musser's Ozark Tavern,
00:30:02
Charlie spent all that summer practicing
00:30:05
and he began experimenting
with the changes
00:30:07
and different harmonic approach
that would lead to bebop.
00:30:11
He learned all the chords
and all the inversions
00:30:13
when he was down there,
he mastered his horn
00:30:16
and returned to Kansas City,
just a musically changed man.
00:30:19
(jazz music)
00:35:41
(jazz music)
00:35:49
- He was one of the fellas
00:35:51
and even the way he got that nickname,
00:35:54
that tells you who he
was, he's a country boy.
00:35:56
- In 1930, there was a stage
production at Penn School
00:36:02
and Charlie and the other kids
were out playing in the yard,
00:36:05
the other boys were up
playing in the yard.
00:36:07
And the band director,
music director said,
00:36:13
"Hey, you little yard birds,"
talking about chickens,
00:36:16
"get in here."
00:36:18
And Charlie who loved
chickens, got a kick out of it.
00:36:22
And so he began referring
to chickens as yard birds.
00:36:26
And in the fall, I think it was of 1940.
00:36:30
The McShann Band was on
its way to play for Big Red
00:36:33
up in Lincoln, Nebraska.
00:36:35
And they were traveling
caravan style in cars.
00:36:37
And the Charlie was riding
in, ran over chicken
00:36:42
and he begged the driver to come back,
00:36:44
to go back and retrieve the bird.
00:36:47
- You're riding in the
car, you hit a chicken,
00:36:49
you say, "Whoa, whoa, stop, I want that.
00:36:53
"One man's road kill
is another man's meal."
00:36:56
See what I mean?
00:36:57
They hit a chicken, he decided
we were gonna pick it up.
00:37:00
And when they get to where they're going
00:37:01
he got the lady to cook it for him,
00:37:03
that was why they started
calling him Yard bird,
00:37:06
which eventually got to be Bird.
00:37:08
(jazz music)
00:37:12
- In those big bands,
00:37:14
they were primarily playing for dancers.
00:37:18
Duke and Count Basie, a lot of their gigs,
00:37:21
in fact, all their gigs,
probably, were dance gigs.
00:37:25
(jazz music)
00:37:40
And so that means people were
listening with their bodies.
00:37:44
And I think the difference
00:37:45
between that era and the bebop cats,
00:37:49
they wanted people to
listen with their ears,
00:37:52
not just feel the music,
but hear the music.
00:37:56
- I think that's why so many intellectuals
00:37:59
and beatniks, hip cats
we're all attracted to it
00:38:05
and artists.
00:38:06
Because it was an original
expression of music.
00:38:10
And it forced you to listen.
00:38:14
You know the whole thing
about chasing the bird.
00:38:18
If you heard Bird, he would
immediately get your attention
00:38:21
and you would immediately focus on him
00:38:23
because of what was
coming out of his horn.
00:38:24
(jazz music)
00:39:13
- The tempo went up
00:39:15
and then the melodies
got more complicated,
00:39:20
like for instance, this is like swing era.
00:39:24
(jazz music)
00:39:40
You know, and then Bird then
took that same progression
00:39:46
and he sped it up and he put
another melody on top of it
00:39:50
so he wouldn't have to pay royalties.
00:39:53
So then you get like,
00:39:54
I think it's "Scrapple from the Apple".
00:39:56
(jazz music)
00:40:18
That's the difference right there.
00:40:19
The tempo and the melodies
were more rhythmic, you know?
00:40:24
And then they were original material.
00:40:27
They wrote a lot of original
material in the bebop era.
00:40:32
- Charlie was playing
bebop in Kansas City,
00:40:36
Claude Williams and James
Shan both told me that.
00:40:39
The older musicians, there
was no name for it then,
00:40:42
and he was really the pioneer.
00:40:44
And the older musicians
called it crazy music.
00:40:48
There's a couple of recordings of him
00:40:50
performing one called "Honeysuckle
Rose", "Body and Soul"
00:40:54
that was probably recorded in 1938.
00:40:57
It shows him moving in that direction.
00:40:59
And recently we came across
a recording of him playing.
00:41:04
"I'm Getting Sentimental Over
You", in February of 1941,
00:41:09
where he goes in and
out of keys, uses 16th,
00:41:11
knows all the tricks of the
trade are there in his solo,
00:41:14
it was quite a revelation.
00:41:17
(jazz music)
00:41:38
(jazz music)
00:41:44
- He'd been smoking reefers and drinking
00:41:47
for a number of years.
00:41:49
But when he got that taste of heroin he-
00:41:51
And heroin was readily available.
00:41:54
A musician called Bud Calvert
00:41:56
talked about how he would take Charlie
00:41:58
down to Columbus Park,
the score is heroin.
00:42:03
Kansas City was wide open,
so anything was available.
00:42:06
And I think one of the reasons he left
00:42:07
is because he left about the
same time the clean up occurred
00:42:11
and sources of heroin dried
up and also gigs dried up,
00:42:15
that's one of the things
that drove him out of town.
00:42:17
(jazz music)
00:42:36
- Everybody had to get to New York,
00:42:39
and I think Monk was a big
magnet for these young people.
00:42:47
He provided validation, cover
00:42:54
and opportunities and freedom
00:42:58
for these young folks to play.
00:43:00
And they formed a community
and they shared their ideas.
00:43:07
Miles went there from St. Louis.
00:43:11
A lot of people came from
other places to go to New York.
00:43:16
(jazz music)
00:43:55
- One of the difficult things
00:43:57
about getting to the
essence of Charlie Parker
00:43:59
is stripping away the myths
00:44:00
that's been wrapped
around him over the years.
00:44:04
- And it sounds more like
monotype a foot in the forest,
00:44:08
like a little bit.
00:44:09
You're talking about how he always kept
00:44:10
Stravinsky's "Firebird
Suite" in his back pocket.
00:44:14
- The house was almost full
as Charlie Parker quintet
00:44:18
walked onto the band stand,
the trumpeter, Red Rodney,
00:44:21
recognized Stravinsky.
00:44:24
So he whispered over to Bird,
00:44:25
"Hey, Stravinsky's sitting there."
00:44:27
Charlie Parker immediately called,
00:44:29
and it's customary that he would do this.
00:44:31
Coco, is built on the
car changes a Cherokee.
00:44:34
Back then that was one of the,
00:44:36
that's still like a rite of passage song.
00:44:39
Said he played at over
300 beats per minute.
00:44:42
So he's (clapping)
00:44:45
(scat singing)
00:44:49
I can't even hardly hum it.
00:44:51
(scat singing)
00:44:58
Okay, in the middle of this fast song,
00:45:00
Charlie Parker, jumps in his solo
00:45:03
and he's going at this breakneck speed
00:45:06
and then at the beginning
of his second course,
00:45:09
he inserted the opening of
Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite".
00:45:14
("Firebird Suite" playing)
00:45:33
How do you do that?
00:45:35
How do you think so fast?
00:45:36
Stravinsky's in the audience.
00:45:38
Immediately Stravinsky
started pounding the table
00:45:41
and they said, the people that were there,
00:45:44
they said that he knocked his drink
00:45:47
all over the people sitting next to him.
00:45:49
People were like, you know?
00:45:51
But he was so blown away, he
went to hear this jazz musician
00:45:57
that he'd been hearing about.
00:45:59
And now to hear him live sitting up there,
00:46:03
he's sitting out here
and now all of a sudden
00:46:05
at this breakneck speed in the
middle of his improvisation,
00:46:09
he plays one of his
compositions, spontaneously.
00:46:16
I don't even know anybody that
can do that kind of stuff.
00:46:19
And I've been playing my
whole life and I'm over 30.
00:46:23
So it's like, I can do some things
00:46:26
and I've known a lot
of real good musicians.
00:46:30
I hear the great musicians of our time
00:46:32
and I don't have to name people,
we know who they are but-
00:46:37
And I've been in jam
sessions with some of them,
00:46:41
but I don't know very many,
that's hedging the bet.
00:46:48
I don't know any that could do that.
00:46:51
That I can honestly say, "I
bet so-and-so could do that."
00:46:56
And he did this, this is just one story.
00:46:59
There are many stories that
Dizzy Gillespie has told,
00:47:02
Red Rodney has told,
Louis Hayes, Art Blakey,
00:47:06
all of his peers have
told different things
00:47:10
that he did in the middle
of a solo in the night
00:47:14
that made all of them say, "What?"
00:47:15
(jazz music)
00:50:27
- He had an addictive
personality and it did him in.
00:50:32
He flew very high for a
very short period of time
00:50:35
and so his third wife,
Doris and his mother, Addie
00:50:40
brought him back to Kansas City
00:50:42
after the Memorial service in Harlem.
00:50:45
And he was buried here
in Lincoln Cemetery.
00:50:48
According to family members,
Addie buried him under a tree
00:50:50
so he'd always be in the shade
00:50:51
and wouldn't be hot during the summer.
00:50:53
And she wanted to be
buried next to him too.
00:50:56
I mean, she loved Charlie.
00:50:57
She doted on Charlie and
Charlie loved his mother,
00:51:01
he called her every Sunday,
regardless of where he was.
00:51:06
And so in a lot of ways,
00:51:07
it was right that he came back here.
00:51:11
- But here in Kansas City,
you go out to his grave,
00:51:16
you can't find it.
00:51:17
There's no proper marker at that cemetery,
00:51:20
I've been out several times.
00:51:23
There's a tenor saxophone
engraved on his grave
00:51:26
instead of an alto saxophone,
there's no headstone.
00:51:30
If you go to Pere Lachaise,
the famous cemetery in Paris,
00:51:37
go and look at Chopin's grave site.
00:51:40
It's like a whole, it's
not even a memorial,
00:51:43
it's literally like a small church itself.
00:51:47
You know what I mean?
00:51:48
But it's just this tiny,
but it's so majestic.
00:51:51
And I feel like we don't take
advantage of these things
00:51:55
in which we could.
00:51:56
We could be better.
00:51:58
(jazz music)
00:52:39
(jazz music)
00:52:49
- There's music before Charlie Parker,
00:52:52
there's music after Charlie Parker.
00:52:54
Like Mozart, he's a transitional figure.
00:52:56
And he not only influenced
00:52:58
the subsequent generations of musicians,
00:53:00
he influenced writers,
he influenced painters,
00:53:05
poets, dancers, he influenced all art.
00:53:11
- There would be no Jimmy
Hendrix without Charlie Parker.
00:53:13
There's no Donny Hathaway
without Charlie Parker.
00:53:15
There's no Basquiat
without Charlie Parker,
00:53:18
it doesn't exist.
00:53:19
It's clear, like no one
would even debate that.
00:53:22
It's hard to get people to
really understand this base
00:53:25
because I think that
once you're in that deep,
00:53:28
you realize that there's no isolating him
00:53:35
without looking at the broad
level in which he reached.
00:53:40
- He's easily the biggest
icon from Kansas City.
00:53:49
I mean, when I started traveling,
going to Japan and Europe,
00:53:53
when I mention I'm from Kansas City,
00:53:55
the first thing they say is,
00:53:56
"Oh Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker."
00:53:59
- It's like it didn't matter
what part of the world I'm at,
00:54:03
Charlie Parker, he has reached a level
00:54:08
that we all want to attain as artists.
00:54:16
- Hi, my name is Eugene
Cantera, I play saxophone.
00:54:20
I love the album, "Charlie
Parker plays Cole Porter"
00:54:23
so much that I named my son Parker Cole.
00:54:27
- I remember as a young teenager,
00:54:29
listening to Charlie
Parker particularly his LP
00:54:33
"Charlie Parker With Strings"
the song, "April in Paris",
00:54:38
I was just hooked.
00:54:40
I've listened to that
record more than 250 times,
00:54:45
just lovely, just lovely.
00:54:49
- Hello from Manchester
in the United Kingdom,
00:54:53
I am Sam Q, a jazz saxophonist
for almost 40 years.
00:54:57
I first got started playing saxophone
00:55:00
when I listened to a record
called "Scrapple from the Apple"
00:55:03
from the great, great
Charlie Parker, AKA The Bird.
00:55:08
His skill and dexterity
and substitution of codes
00:55:12
was immense.
00:55:13
Without Charlie Parker,
00:55:15
jazz would not have gone
into the modern day era.
00:55:17
He's a pioneer and a great
figure in jazz music.
00:55:22
- The first time I knew
something about Charlie Parker,
00:55:26
was when I started my
career in jazz school.
00:55:30
And he was just an experience every time.
00:55:34
I listened to "Lady Bird"
but it was more important
00:55:39
that Charlie took media
radically to "Make it Just So",
00:55:43
"Make it Just So" is not just
only to play at random notes,
00:55:47
it's to speak with an
instrument, it's to feel.
00:55:55
(foreign language)
00:56:18
- I don't hear any of those bebop guys
00:56:20
and I like all of them.
00:56:21
None of them swung quite
like Charlie Parker
00:56:25
and that, that's a Kansas City thing.
00:56:28
Yeah I said it. (laughs)
00:56:30
I said it, it's a Kansas
City thing. (laughs)
00:56:32
(jazz music)
00:56:36
- [Director] I gotta get a picture of you.
00:56:38
(jazz music)
