Kansas City Public Library reminds us that the legacy of "The Bird" lives . . .
"On March 12, 1955, famed jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker died following a 15-year addiction to heroin and alcohol. The Kansas City native had become one of the greatest alto saxophonists in the world thanks to his innovations in the "bebop" jazz style.
Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on August 29, 1920. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he played in jazz clubs as a teenager and young man. The local jazz culture based in the Vine Street nightclub district cultivated his talents as a teenager. Indeed, it was during this period that Kansas City made notable contributions to jazz with hometown artists such as Count Basie, Bennie Moten, and Buster Smith."
Every year a smaller and smaller cadre of Kansas City jazz d-bags gather to celebrate Charlie Parker's birthday but I'm thinking that the day of his demise offers more of a teaching moment given that right now heroin is making a big comeback in Missouri and seems much more popular than Jazz at the moment.
One of the last things Parker said down the final stretch of his life was please don't bury me in Kansas City.
ReplyDeleteWe have to note and celebrate those days when a NIGGER passed, who actually did accomplish something.
ReplyDeleteIf he had been born 40 years later he would probably have been a casualty of the drug wars and would have been in prison instead of famous.
ReplyDeleteIdolizing Charlie Parker is on the same plane as idolizing Mayweather Jr. and Sr.
ReplyDeleteThey may be highly gifted in their specific area of activity, but as human beings, we shouldn't be holding them up for our kids to emulate.
That statue of Charlie Parker at 18th and Paseo should be removed and one of WEB DuBois or some other person of character put in its place.
Parker was a genius musician. He was also a monster of a human being.
ReplyDelete