Celebrating Bird: the Triumph of Charlie Parker
by Gary Giddins
Paperback: 208 pages; $17.95
University of Minnesota Press
www.upress.umn.edu
ISBN: 9780816690411
One of things I enjoy most about reading a biography is the opportunity to inhabit another world. When reading about jazz, the world isn’t always pleasant. If you read about Louis Armstrong, for example, you encounter rampant racism, where a man such as Louis could be invited to play on the stage but wouldn’t be allowed to have a drink out front of the stage. If you read about Chet Baker you find a world of destructive addiction, where movie star good looks get systematically eaten away by heroin.
Any book about Charlie Parker could justifiably focus on those two themes. And many do. But this one doesn’t. It shows another side of Bird’s world—it shows how loved he was.
Parker knew everyone. As you flick through the pictures of this book you’ll find the Who’s Who of jazz. Here’s Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Here’s Gerry Mulligan and Duke Ellington. There’s Count Basie and Monk. And there’s Max Roach and Mingus.
He knew them all and played with most. And they all loved him—for some reason.
Parker was notorious for letting people down. He’d often turn up late or not turn up at all. He’d borrow horns and hock them. He’d nod off on stage. He’d skip out the back of the venue w
