PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Charlie Parker

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - April 21, 2002: Charlie Parker

By Vivian Bournazian
VOICE 1:
I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE 2:

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Today,
we tell about one of America's greatest jazz musicians, Charlie Parker. He influenced the
direction of jazz music during his short lifetime. His influence continues today.

(("Bird of Paradise"))

VOICE 1:

Charlie Parker forever changed the performance and writing of jazz music. He developed

a new style of jazz called "bebop." It was different from the dance or "swing" style that
was popular for years.

Performers of bebop left the traditional musical melody 1 and played a song freely, with the music and rhythm that
was felt at the time. So, the same song could be played in a different way each time it was performed. Charlie
Parker said, "music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of
your horn. "

VOICE 2:

Charlie Parker was born August, twenty-nineth, nineteen-twenty, in the middle western state of Kansas. He had
his first music lessons in the local public schools. His mother bought him a saxophone in nineteen-thirty-three.
Two years later, he decided 2 to leave school and become a professional musician.

For the next four years, he worked mainly in Kansas City, Missouri, where jazz music had become popular.
Charlie developed as a musician by playing with different groups in public eating and drinking places called
nightclubs.

He also learned by listening to older local jazz musicians. During this time, Charlie developed serious problems
that were to affect him the rest of his life. He became dependent on alcohol and the illegal drug heroin 3.

VOICE 1:

One night in nineteen-thirty-six, the young musician decided to take part in a "jam session." Musicians from all
over Kansas City would play for fun during these unplanned performances. These jam sessions often became
musical battles. The better, the faster, the stronger, the more creative musician would win.

Charlie began to play the saxophone that night. He played well for a while. But he then became lost in the music.
The drummer threw down his instrument and brought Charlie to a halt. Charlie later said, "I went home and cried
and didn't play again for three months." The incident, however, made Charlie work even harder to improve his
playing.

VOICE 2:

In nineteen -thirty-nine, Charlie went to New York City. He stayed for almost one year. He was able to get a few
paying jobs playing the saxophone. Most of his time, though, was spent playing in unpaid 4 jam sessions. It was
during this time that he began to develop his own style of jazz.


He said later that this was when he made a big discovery. He was unhappy playing songs the same way all the
time. He thought there had to be another way to play. He said, "I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn't play it."
He began working on the song "Cherokee." He used the higher notes of a chord 5 as a melody line and made other
changes. He now could play the things he had been hearing.

It was in December, nineteen-thirty-nine, that Charlie Parker made this discovery. He later said that with it, he
"came alive. " Here he is playing "Cherokee":

(("Cherokee"))

VOICE 1:

Charlie Parker's name first appeared in the press reports about music in nineteen-forty.
During the next five years, he joined different bands. He played with the Earl Hines Orchestra 6
and the Billy Eckstine orchestra. He also played with other young jazz musicians who helped
make the new sound known. Trumpet 7 players Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, and pianists
Thelonius Monk 8 and Bud 9 Powell were some of them.

Parker was considered the greatest of the bebop jazz musicians. This song, "Now's the Time,"
is one of his hits during this time:

(("Now's the Time"))

VOICE 2:

Parker's continuing drug habit was affecting him. He often was late for performances. Or he missed them. He had
decided he did not like the music of the big bands. He apparently 10 did not feel at ease playing with a big band,
even one that followed his own musical ideas.

In nineteen -forty-five, he returned to New York City. He had the idea of starting a small jazz group. In New
York, he joined Dizzy Gillespie. Their work together was among the greatest in American music history. They
enjoyed the support of younger musicians. Yet, they had to fight the criticism of those opposed to any new
development in jazz.

That year, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie took the new jazz sound to California. Charlie continued to record
and perform in Los Angeles, even after dizzy returned to New York. It was during this time that Parker recorded
"Ornithology 11:"

(("Ornithology"))

VOICE 1:

In nineteen -forty-six, Charlie Parker suffered a nervous breakdown 12. His dependence 13 on heroin and alcohol led to
this severe mental condition. He was sent to a hospital and stayed there for six months.

He returned to New York City in nineteen-forty-seven. The following four years are considered his most
successful. He formed his own small bands and played with other groups. He visited Europe three times, where
he recorded about half of the albums he ever made.

In July, nineteen-fifty-one, New York City officials took away his right to play in nightclubs because he used
illegal drugs. His debts greatly increased. His physical and mental health began to fail.

VOICE 2:

Charlie Parker was given a permit to play in New York again two years later. Jobs, though, were difficult to find.
He finally got a chance to play for two nights in March, nineteen-fifty-five. It was at Birdland, the most famous
jazz nightclub in New York City. Birdland had opened in nineteen-forty-nine. It was named after "Bird," as
Charlie Parker's followers 14 called him.

Parker knew those performances might be his last chance to re-claim the success he had gained only a few years


earlier. His last public appearance was on March fifth, nineteen-fifty-five, at Birdland. It was not a success. He
died seven days later of a heart attack. He was thirty-four.

VOICE 1:
Charlie Parker's influence on modern jazz music continues to live. He led many artists to "play what they hear.
"
Jazz musicians continue to perform his music, often copying his sound and style. But, experts say, no one has
ever played the same as "Bird"
.

(("Scrapple from the Apple")
)
VOICE 2:
This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE 1:
And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of

America.

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