Charlie Parker

Bebop was a style of jazz pioneered in New York throughout the 1940s and was characterised by rapid-tempo, complex melodies and advanced harmonic structures; syncopated rhythms, virtuoso soloing and complex interplay. While artists such as trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach, pianists Bud Powell and Thelonius Monk, and the incredible guitarist Charlie Christian were important in bebop, if one name exemplifies this vivacious and hugely exciting genre then it’s alto saxophonist, Charlie Parker.

Between 1942 and 1944 the Musicians’ Union imposed a ban that prohibited the recording of any new music. Once this was lifted in 1945, Parker, or ‘Bird’, as he was known, wasted no time in releasing a stream of groundbreaking recordings that showcased the ‘new sound’ these young, hungry and immensely talented musicians had been developing in clubs and after-hours jams. While it’s debatable how long it took the public to catch on, what’s definitely is not in