Charlie Parker, arguably the
greatest saxophonist of all time, was born in Kansas City, Kansas, in
1920. After that, it seems, the details
begin to get fuzzy.
In his biographical study of Parker, Chasin’ the Bird,
the Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker, author Brian Priestly tries to clarify
some of the facts about the often confusing, contradictory, and catastrophic
life of one of jazz’s most notorious figures.
As with any cultural figure who achieves iconic status – history has
become legend, legend has become myth.
Sooner or later, the fragile truth’s of a person’s life become lost amid
the babble of historians, critics, and fans.
Author Brian Priestly is the co-author of The Rough Guide to Jazz and has written
biographies of Charles Mingus and John Coltrane. He is a prolific critic and a respectable
jazz pianist as well. His knowledge of
jazz is both broad and deep, and his Chasin’ the Bird examines the life and
work of Charlie Parker with intelligence and restraint. It is not an encyclopedia of all things
Charlie Parker. Rather, the bulk of the
book traces what can be known for sure about his life, his music, and his
personality.
There’s a fine bibliographical chapter for folks who
would care to do their own research. Given
Parker’s relatively spotty, impulsive, and often-bootlegged recording career,
the book’s sixty page discography will no doubt be useful to serious
collectors. Overall, Priestly seems
comfortable with presenting you with what he admits is an incomplete and imperfect
portrait of the man. In the end, though,
readers will likely appreciate the limits on authorial self-indulgence.
Most people making an effort to get to know the life of
Charlie Parker –more than most usefully listening to his music – will have seen
the Clint Eastwood film Bird,
starring Forrest Whittaker as the legend himself. But because Bird’s own life was such a mess,
the movie creates more problems in point of view and chronology than it
solves. A few things are clear about
Parker’s life. He had a challenging childhood; he was a musical genius, a
virtuoso reedman and, essentially, the inventor of bebop; ; he yearned for
larger material success and cultural recognition; he was an addict and an
alcoholic; he was a victim of racism; some of his peers facing similar problems
overcame them and prevailed; other peers could not overcome and succumbed to
mental illness and drug abuse. This is
why, as Priestly suggests, the music is the most important thing to pay attention
to. Those fast, brilliant, perfect lines
tell you almost everything you need to know.
Charlie Parker could fly in ways that folks never imagined before.
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