Charlie Parker | Be bop

Jazz historians consider Charlie Parker one of the greatest jazz musicians, along with other pioneers such as Armstrong and Ellington. Jazz critic S. Yanow stated that “Parker was arguably the greatest saxophonist of all time”.

Charlie Parker’s innovations : be bop

Alto saxophone giant C. Parker can correctly be considered the father of modern jazz. Originally from Kansas City, Charlie Parker moved to New York permanently in 1940, playing with J. McShann’s big band, then with E. Hines and B. Eckstine. During this period, however, something else was brewing. Parker began playing in the small clubs on 52nd Street, where a handful of musicians led by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie were breaking new ground. Rather than dealing primarily with compositions and arrangements, the beboppers focused on improvisation. Playing in small groups at blistering tempos, Parker and his cohorts began persistently innovating jazz harmony and rhythm. But Charlie Parker’s playing doesn’t sound experimental; instead, it sounds graceful, exuberant, warm, and melodic. Though many traditionalists denounced it, Parker’s music fascinated the jazz world. After Bebop, jazz came to be played primarily in small groups, and the Bebop innovations have become the fundamental techniques of modern jazz improvisation. ( Noah Enelow )

Charlie Parker’s style : be bop

Parker’s performances featured soaring, fast, rhythmically asymmetrical improvisations. He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Though many Parker recordings show impressive virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines ( for example Koko, Kim, and Leap Frog ) he was also one of the great blues players. His theme less blues improvisation “Parker’s Mood” is one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Charlie Parker merged jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.
Charlie Parker also became an icon for the Beat generation, personifying the idea of the jazz musician as an inflexible artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer.