Charlie+Parker+By+Abby

**by: Abby**
**Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you." - Charlie Parker**
 * ====== **He was the only child of parents Charles and Addie Parker.** ======
 * ====== **He was mostly influenced by 1940s saxophone and jazz players. When he was young he lived in Kansas City, Missouri where jazz, blues, and gospel music was growing to be very popular.** ======
 * ====== **His first instrument he played was the baritone horn in his school band.** ======
 * ====== **One story says that, without formal training, he was terrible, and thrown out of the band.** ======
 * **He showed great interest in the alto saxophone at age 15 and started playing with local bands and led him to leave school to pursue a music career in 1935.**
 * **He worked in Kansas City for a little while which developed his art, in 1939 he went to New York City and worked as a professional musician. New York greatly influenced his music’s style.**
 * **He worked with many other bands over the years and he did his first recording with the Mcshann orchestra. He worked with them for a while then started working with Earl Hines for eight months.**
 * **1945 was very important because he worked with his own group with help from Gillespie. They later took there music to Hollywood for a tour.**
 * **He also worked in Los Angeles until 1946 when he suffered a nervous breakdown and was confined to the hospital he was released in 1947 after being in there 7 months.**
 * **He worked in many other places from 1947 to 1951.**
 * **Parker's last performance was March 5, 1955, at Birdland, a night club that was named in his honor. He died a week later in a friend’s apartment.**
 * **He got his nickname because while traveling to a gig with the Jay Mcshann orchestra, he accidentally ran over a chicken or “yard bird” and killed it. Charlie insisted on taking it to their destination and cooking it for dinner, instead of letting it go to waste. Others say because he lived free as a bird.**
 * **Famous Quote:[[image:http://cmgww.com/music/parker/images/gallery/largepics/005.jpg width="300" height="209" align="right" caption="Charlie Parker photo"]]**

BY: Abby!

Resources: [] []