Jazz Articles about Charlie Parker

About Charlie Parker

Album Review

Norman Granz: The Sound Of America

Read "The Sound Of America" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
October 26, 2026

If there were a more important “back office" figure in the history of American jazz than Norman Granz, who would it be? When Granz first heard Coleman Hawkins, he knew that the music was going to have a major role in his life--but he did not yet know how many others would be in his debt as well. Hundreds, if not thousands of musicians would owe him a living. Some, like Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, would nearly become his ...

Radio & Podcasts

Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Jay McShann, Mary Lou Williams & Bennie Moten

by Joe Dimino
March 1, 2026

In celebration of Con Chapman's 2023 book Kansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good, we spin a full-throttle hour of Kansas City jazz--saluting the sound, the swagger, and the city that helped shape America's music. We light the fuse with the brilliant Eddie Durham, then roll straight into the blues-soaked brilliance of Buck Clayton. Along the way, you'll hear excerpts from Con Chapman himself, painting vivid portraits of the players and the wide-open town where jazz didn't ...

Book Review

Franco Bergoglio: Alla Scoperta di Charlie Parker

by Angelo Leonardi
January 26, 2026

Alla scoperta di Charlie Parker--Eredità culturale e storia di un gigante del jazz Franco Bergoglio 343 pagine ISBN: #979-12-56170012 Shake Edizioni 2025 A settant'anni dalla scomparsa, Charlie Parker resta un punto di riferimento centrale per giovani musicisti e appassionati, continuando a emozionare con uno stile rimasto attuale, in quanto sintassi e morfologia di molto jazz moderno e contemporaneo. Il volume di Bergoglio si annuncia nel titolo come un'introduzione a Parker ma è molto ...

History of Jazz

Charlie Parker, Harry "Father" White, and Sweet Lucy

by Con Chapman
January 16, 2026

While it is undeniably true that formal education is generally a benefit both to the student and to society as a whole, it is equally indisputable that many jazz greats got their best education outside a classroom. Johnny Hodges claimed he got the nickname “Rabbit" from his ability to outrun truant officers. Charlie Parker said of his four years at Kansas City's Lincoln High School that he “Went in a freshman, and came out a freshman."

Live Review

Two duos and a trio in Lewisham, London

by John Eyles
December 24, 2025

Shift Register, Akira vs Tigersonic, Data Swamp Lewisham Arthouse London December 13, 2025 Right from the moment the first audience member entered and sat down, there was an electric atmosphere in the room of the Lewisham Arthouse where three acts were to play. As the room filled up, an excited buzz was audible from the audience, some of whom had come along with friends who had recommended that they attend. For some of them, the ...

Radio & Podcasts

Celebrating A Century Of Charlie Parker, Part 1

by Larry Slater
November 14, 2025

The jazz world celebrated the centennial of Charlie Parker's birth in 2020. Parker is one of the select few musicians who justify the term '"genius." He was unquestionably one the greatest improvisers who ever played the music,. A critic for Downbeat wrote, “to say Charlie Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived is a bit like saying the Mona Lisa is a well-known painting."The author and jazz critic Gary Gittins said, “It's difficult. to ...

Album Review

Charlie Parker: At Birdland 1950 Revisited

Read "At Birdland 1950 Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
August 28, 2025

Il 1950 per Charlie Parker è un anno di cambiamenti. Dopo lo scioglimento del quintetto aureo con Miles Davis e Max Roach, le formazioni diventano più effimere, occasionali, almeno fino al sodalizio con Red Rodney. Norman Granz sta per trascinare Parker nella fortunata formula con gli archi, nel frattempo c'è l'impegno di una lunga e tormentata tournèe nel sud del paese. In questo contesto, le registrazioni preservate al Birdland di New York del giugno di quell'anno, possiedono un'aura ...