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Charlie Parker's Big Influence On Jazz

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Biography
Charlie Parker was a legendary Grammy Award–winning jazz saxophonist. Charlie
Parker was born on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. He died on March 12,
1955. He died at the age of 34 Manhattan, New York City, NY. Charlie Parker played the alto saxophone and tenor saxophone. Throughout Charlie’s adult life he was struggling with a heroin addiction, alcoholism,and mental illness caused turbulence in his career and personal relationships. By the time Parker married Rebecca Ruffin in
1936, he started abusing alcohol and drugs. Charlie and Rebecca Ruffin had two children before divorcing in 1939. In 1942, Parker re married Geraldine Scott. His nicknames were bird and yardbird because he was free like a bird. People also called him Charlie Chan, Yardbird, Sparrow, Bird. Influence on music Charlie Parker’s big influence on jazz is that with Dizzy Gillespie they both invented the musical style called bop or bebop. He developed a new style of jazz called bebop. It was different from the dance, or swing, style that was popular for years. Performers of bebop left the traditional musical melody and played a song freely, with the music and rhythm that was felt at the time. Charlie Parker said: "Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it …show more content…

He had the idea of starting a small jazz group. In New York, he joined Dizzy Gillespie. Their work together was among the greatest in American music history. They enjoyed the support of younger musicians. Yet, they had to fight the criticism of those opposed to any new development in jazz. Charlie Parker was given a permit to play in New York again two years later. Jobs, though, were difficult to find. He finally got a chance to play for two nights in March, nineteen fifty-five. It was at Birdland, the most famous jazz nightclub in New York City. Birdland had opened in nineteen forty-nine. It was named after "Bird," as Charlie Parker's followers called

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