Charlie Parker’s Ill-Fated West Coast Trip
Charlie “Bird” Parker is one of the most iconic figures not only in the modern jazz history, but also in the jazz history overall. Charlie Parker had an extraordinary melodic gift and regularly created solos that consisted of ling-lined melodies, each of which was elegant improvised composition unto itself. This gained a wide following among jazz musicians and greatly influenced the Jazz community in the iconic shift is music. Parker’s self-destructive behavior and lifestyle, despite being fatal to the musician ending his life at the age of 34, also attracted a lot of attention of the hipsters, poets, and researchers of the era of late 1940s jazz. As Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie traveled to the …show more content…
The club was widely known at the time for its quite contemporary jazz acts and racially integrated audiences, which was quite rare at the time. Parker and Gillespie traveled to Southern California to bring the style of bebop to the wider audiences and planned to stay there for six weeks. Around that time the musicians performed in different Californian cities, including Hollywood and Los Angeles (The History of Jazz 201). At the same time, professional musicians also had an opportunity to learn more closely about Parker and Gillespie. For instance, one of the innovating pianists on the West Coast, was one of the first few people to learn about Parker’s style of playing as one of Parker’s musical partners, Dean Bandetti often recorded Bird’s sessions on a portable recorder and took them everywhere he traveled (West Coast Jazz 180). The performances of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie brought bebop to the West Coast as it sounded in New York at the time; however, the final push to the development of the prominent sound that separates the East Coast jazz from West Coast was made particularly by Charlie
Charlie “Bird” Parker is one of the most iconic figures not only in the modern jazz history, but also in the jazz history overall. Charlie Parker had an extraordinary melodic gift and regularly created solos that consisted of ling-lined melodies, each of which was elegant improvised composition unto itself. This gained a wide following among jazz musicians and greatly influenced the Jazz community in the iconic shift is music. Parker’s self-destructive behavior and lifestyle, despite being fatal to the musician ending his life at the age of 34, also attracted a lot of attention of the hipsters, poets, and researchers of the era of late 1940s jazz. As Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie traveled to the …show more content…
The club was widely known at the time for its quite contemporary jazz acts and racially integrated audiences, which was quite rare at the time. Parker and Gillespie traveled to Southern California to bring the style of bebop to the wider audiences and planned to stay there for six weeks. Around that time the musicians performed in different Californian cities, including Hollywood and Los Angeles (The History of Jazz 201). At the same time, professional musicians also had an opportunity to learn more closely about Parker and Gillespie. For instance, one of the innovating pianists on the West Coast, was one of the first few people to learn about Parker’s style of playing as one of Parker’s musical partners, Dean Bandetti often recorded Bird’s sessions on a portable recorder and took them everywhere he traveled (West Coast Jazz 180). The performances of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie brought bebop to the West Coast as it sounded in New York at the time; however, the final push to the development of the prominent sound that separates the East Coast jazz from West Coast was made particularly by Charlie