
- Playing
- Charlie Parker: 'Bird Lives!' Part 1
- From
- NPR Music
It's safe to say that without Charlie Parker, the music we now call bebop might never have existed. While other musicians in New York — Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell among them — were creating the musical building blocks that would later become part of bebop, it was Parker's innovative phrasing on alto saxophone that provided the glue that brought it all together as a new jazz revolution. In the first of a two-part Jazz Profiles, we explore Parker's formative years and his arrival in New York.
Also in the Jazz Profiles series
Ella Fitzgerald, 'First Lady of Song'
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
Her voice is instantly recognizable. Her youthful exuberance, pure sound and positive energy just make you feel good. Her incredible technical abilities were self-evident, ...
Art Tatum, 'The Musician's Musician'
(58:00)
From: NPR Music
One of the greatest improvisers in jazz history, Art Tatum also set the standard for technical dexterity with his classic 1933 recording of "Tea for Two."
Miles Davis, Part 1: Miles' Styles
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
Miles Davis was the personification of restless spirit, always pushing himself and his music into uncharted territory.
Miles Davis, Part 2: 'Kind of Blue'
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
The best-selling jazz record of all time is a universally acknowledged masterpiece, revered as much by rock and classical music fans as by jazz lovers. The album is Miles ...
Johnny Hartman, 'The Romantic Balladeer'
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
Johnny Hartman was the quintessential romantic balladeer. The only singer to record with John Coltrane — on the iconic album John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman — his fame was ...
Sidney Bechet, 'Soprano Sax King'
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
Sidney Bechet was the undisputed king of the soprano saxophone and also one of the most innovative and original clarinetists in jazz.
Mary Lou Williams, 'Perpetually Contemporary'
(54:31)
From: NPR Music
Mary Lou Williams was not only present for nearly every development in jazz music -- she was influential to most of them. In her compositions, arrangements, piano playing, ...
Louis Armstrong: 'The Man and His Music,' Part 1
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
It is hard to overstate the incredible reach of Louis Armstrong. The music he made touched everyone who heard it, and revolutionized American entertainment in ways we can ...
Louis Armstrong: 'The Man and His Music,' Part 2
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
By his early thirties, Louis Armstrong had already revolutionized jazz forever. Working with his mentor "King" Oliver in Chicago, Armstrong explored and expanded the sounds ...
Louis Armstrong: 'The Trumpeter'
(54:00)
From: NPR Music
Before Louis Armstrong ever sang a duet with Ella Fitzgerald or Bing Crosby, there was just a lanky young man with a bright, beautiful horn. That young man transformed the ...
Piece Description
It's safe to say that without Charlie Parker, the music we now call bebop might never have existed. While other musicians in New York — Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell among them — were creating the musical building blocks that would later become part of bebop, it was Parker's innovative phrasing on alto saxophone that provided the glue that brought it all together as a new jazz revolution. In the first of a two-part Jazz Profiles, we explore Parker's formative years and his arrival in New York.
Timing and Cues
Show
00:00 IC: Support for...
29:07 OC: ...National Public Radio.
29:08 Music Break (:30)
29:38 IC: When the Eckstine band...
53:59 OC: ...National Public Radio.



