Improvisation and the History of Jazz in Four Words

"You can tell the history of jazz in four words. Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker." - Miles Davis

One of the few filmed s a one-hour movie, Improvisation (1950), by Norman Granz (founder of Verve Records and its subsidiary Clef among other labels associated with Parker), which opens with two songs featuring Charlie Parker:

"In the opening number in the first sequence I have Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker playing  I think for the first time together and sharing the same song... And it's interesting to see how pleased Charlie was to be playing with Hawk... because he even lifted his chair from its original place, carried it over so he could hear Hawk do his thing. When Buddy Rich did a break Bird was interested in that and you could see him laughing as he enjoyed it."

The title, "Improvisation," refers to "what jazz is all about," in Granz's words.

Here's the movie:

Welcome to The Charlie Parker Century

In exactly 1 month (August 29, 2020) Charlie Parker will be one century old. The music historians of the future might well call this era "the Yardbird Years" or even "the Parker Century".

Graffitti like these have been appearing all over the world since 1955

This blog, open to public participation, will celebrate and count down to the date of his 100th birthday with a periodic tribute. Please let us know about your favorite Parker song, or how and where you met him, or what he means to you or any other anecdote or piece of information you want to share.

Let's kick the celebrations off with one of the few films out there of Bird with "the other half of his heartbeat":

Welcome to this Birdblog!

Neoclassical like Bird,
Distrusting the reality
of every note.
Half-real
We blow the sentence pure and real
Like chewing angels.
"Listen, Bird, why do we have to sit here dying
in a half-furnished room?
The rest of the combo
Is safe in houses
Blowing bird-brained Dixieland,
How warm and free they are.
What right
Music."
"Man,
We
Can't stay away from the sounds.
We're crazy, Jack
We gotta stay here 'til
They come and get us."

...

"And are we angels, Bird?"
"That's what we're trying to tell 'em, Jack
There aren't any angels except when
You and me blow'em."

(Jack Spicer Lives)