7 Charlie Parker 7Parker grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, during the
great years of Kansas City jazz and began playing alto
saxophone when he was 13. At 14 he quit school and began
performing with youth bands, and at 16 he was married—
the first of his four marriages. The most significant of his
early stylistic influences were tenor saxophone innovator
Lester Young and the advanced swing-era alto saxophonist
Buster Smith, in whose band Parker played in 1937.
Parker recorded his first solos as a member of Jay
McShann’s band, with whom he toured the eastern United
States in 1940–42. It was at this time that his childhood
nickname “Yardbird” was shortened to “Bird.” His grow-
ing friendship with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie led Parker
to develop his new music in avant-garde jam sessions in
New York’s Harlem. Bebop grew out of these experiments
by Parker, Gillespie, and their adventurous colleagues; the
music featured chromatic harmonies and, influenced espe-
cially by Parker, small note values and seemingly impulsive
rhythms. Parker and Gillespie played in Earl Hines’s swing-
oriented band and Billy Eckstine’s more modern band. In
1944 they formed their own small ensemble, the first
working bebop group. The next year Parker made a series
of classic recordings with Red Norvo, with Gillespie’s
quintet (“Salt Peanuts” and “Shaw Nuff ”), and for his own
first solo recording session (“Billie’s Bounce,” “Now’s the
Time,” and “Koko”). The new music he was espousing
aroused controversy but also attracted a devoted audience.
By this time Parker had been addicted to drugs for several
years. While working in Los Angeles with Gillespie’s group
and others, Parker collapsed in the summer of 1946, suffer-
ing from heroin and alcohol addiction, and was confined
to a state mental hospital.
Following his release after six months, Parker formed
his own quintet, which included trumpeter Miles Davis
and drummer Max Roach. He performed regularly in New