7 Charlie Parker 7If Parker’s life was chaotic in the 1950s, he nonetheless
retained his creative edge. From roughly 1950 he abandoned
his quintet to perform with a succession of usually small,
ad hoc jazz groups; on occasion he performed with Latin
American bands, big jazz bands (including Stan Kenton’s
and Woody Herman’s), or string ensembles. Recording
sessions with several quartets and quintets produced such
pieces as “Confirmation,” “Chi-Chi,” and “Bloomdido,”
easily the equals of his best 1940s sessions. Outstanding
performances that were recorded at concerts and in
nightclubs also attest to his vigorous creativity during
this difficult period. He wanted to study with classical
composer Edgard Varèse, but, before the two could col-
laborate, Parker’s battle with ulcers and cirrhosis of the
liver got the better of him. While visiting his friend
Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, he was persuaded to
remain at her home because of his illness; there, a week
after his last engagement, he died of a heart attack.
The impact of Parker’s tone and technique has already
been discussed; his concepts of harmony and melody were
equally influential. Rejecting the diatonic scales common
to earlier jazz, Parker improvised melodies and composed
themes using chromatic scales. Often he played phrases
that implied added harmonies or created passages that were
only distantly related to his songs’ harmonic foundations
(chord changes). Yet for all the tumultuous feelings in his
solos, he created flowing melodic lines. At slow tempos as
well as fast, his were intense improvisations that commu-
nicated complex, often subtle emotions. The harmonies and
inflections of the blues, which he played with passion
and imagination, reverberated throughout his improvi-
sations. Altogether, Parker’s lyric art was a virtuoso
music resulting from a coordination of nerve, muscle,
and intellect that pressed human agility and creativity to
their limits.