Jazz profiles: Celebrating Bird
By
Steven Cerra
Jazz Profiles
November 06, 2013
An indispensable primer on the life of Charlie Parker and his music when it was first published over twenty-five years ago, this revision makes it even more so because as Mr. Giddins states:
“Charlie Parker and his peers, shoulders to the wheel, inspiration through the roof, created the bedrock of modern Jazz, its aspirations and language. We hear him more than we know.”
In each of the book’s five chapters - Bird Lives!, Youth, Apprenticeship, Mastery, Bird Lives - Mr. Giddins helps us look at Parker’s life and music in the context in which it occurred and goes to great lengths to help us “hear him.”
If you ever wondered how Bird came about?; What was it like for him at the beginning?; How did he create such a formidable, musical persona, one that influenced many of his contemporaries?; Why and how does Parker’s influence on Jazz continue to this day?: the answers to these questions can be found in the 150 pages of Mr. Giddins biography along with a detailed discography and a selected bibliography.
