Charlie Parker Culture And Influences

This work traces the development of jazz saxophonistCharlie Parker from the musical and culturalenvironment of Kansas City. Interviews with primarysources provide new information and insightconcerning the events and chronology of Parker'searly life. Transcription and analysis of sixteenearly solos illuminate Parker's improvisationallanguage from the years 1940-42. In these earlysolos the most important categories ofimprovisational techniques include emulations andquotations from various sources. Parker quotesLester Young Buster Smith Roy Eldridge ColemanHawkins and popular tunes of the day demonstratingthe importance of the African-American oral and auraltransmission of musical vocabulary in the jazztradition. This work should be especially useful toprofessionals in areas of jazz saxophone performancejazz studies and ethnomusicology.