Charlie parker interesting facts

Charlie Parker was one of the most important figuresin the development of jazz and, in particular, Bop. He was a troubled man, with drugs and drink at the heart of his problems. He was also a genius, a man of which it can be said, without fear of contradiction, that changed the course of jazz history and created masterful songs like “Billie’s Bounce.”

Charles Parker Jr. hailed from the jazz well that was Kansas City, Missouri, right about the same time that jazz was catching fire, in part thanks to the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. Born on August 29, 1920, to a teenage mother, Charlie, by all accounts, had a decent childhood, despite his father being more interested in gambling than parenting. By the time he was 14, Parker was living in the ‘jazz district’ of Kansas City and his father had left, leaving his doting mother to bring up Charlie. He was besotted with music and the life of the musicians he saw around 12th Street and Vine. Eventually, his mother scraped together enoug