Charlie Parker

Charles Parker Jr est un saxophoniste alto américain né le 29 août 1920 à Kansas City, mort le 12 mars 1955 à New York. D'abord appelé Yardbird (le bleu) au début de sa carrière, surnom dont l'origine se perd dans des dizaines d'explications différentes, son surnom sera ensuite raccourci en Bird (l'oiseau), qui le suivra tout au long de sa vie. Parker est considéré comme l'un des musiciens de jazz les plus doués et innovateurs de tous les temps. Il est l'un de ceux qui ont contribué à l'éclosion du style be-bop. Décédé à 34 ans en 1955, il devient une véritable légende et un modèle pour toute une génération de musiciens. Chaque année a lieu au mois d'août le Charlie Parker Festival, dans une galerie d'art, Tribes Gallery à New York (285 third street NY, NY). (Read More)

Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker is widely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career, and the shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's sobriquet for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite" and "Ornithology."

Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries. Several of Parker's songs have become standards, including "Billie's Bounce," "Anthropology," "Ornithology," and "Confirmation". 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. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuoso technique and complex melodic lines — such as "Koko," "Kim," and "Leap Frog" — he was also one of the great blues players. His themeless blues improvisation "Parker's Mood" represents one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Parker fused jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.

Parker also became an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer. (Read More)

O Τσάρλι Πάρκερ (Charlie Parker Jr., 29 Αυγούστου 1920 - 12 Μαρτίου 1955) υπήρξε ένας από τους σημαντικότερους αφροαμερικανούς μουσικούς της τζαζ, συνθέτης και άλτο σαξοφωνίστας. Η επίδρασή του στην εξέλιξη της τζαζ θεωρείται πολύ σημαντική, ενώ συνέβαλε καθοριστικά, μαζί με τον Ντίζι Γκιλέσπι, στη διαμόρφωση του μπίμποπ κατά τη δεκαετία του 1940. Συχνά αναφέρεται και με το ψευδώνυμο Μπερντ (Bird ή Yardbird), το οποίο απέκτησε στα πρώτα χρόνια της καριέρας του και διατήρησε μέχρι το τέλος της. (Read More)