[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN HONOR OF THE LATE CHARLIE PARKER

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                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 24, 1999

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
memory of Charlie ``Yardbird'' Parker as the Charlie Parker Memorial 
Site is dedicated at 17th Terrace and Vine Street in my hometown of 
Kansas City, Missouri. Charlie Parker was a bebop innovator. He not 
only shaped the sound of modern jazz in the 1940s, but he has also 
served as an inspiration to all jazz musicians since that time. His 
alto sax virtuosity marked the zenith of the jazz age and set a 
standard for other musicians to aspire to.
  Charlie Parker's family settled in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1927, 
when Parker was only 7 years old. While growing up there, he pursued 
his musical education on the stages of Kansas City. By 1936, when 
Charlie Parker turned 16, Kansas City music had begun to influence the 
national jazz scene. Parker was a big part of this explosion, having 
obtained his union card at the age of 14. He spent a few years 
idolizing and studying Lester Young's saxophone playing, and then 
continued his studies under Buster Smith, one of the early stars of 
County Basie's Reno Club band and Walter Page's Blue Devils. By 1938, 
Parker was playing in the Jay McShann band, the last great band to play 
in Kansas City, as the principal soloist. The McShann band's national 
success after 1944 meant that Parker would no longer play in Kansas 
City.
  It was in New York that Charlie Parker got his nickname of 
``Yardbird'' because he loved to eat fried chicken. From the time he 
arrived in New York until he passed away on March 12, 1955, his success 
escalated. As the news of his passing spread, ``Bird Lives'' began to 
appear all over New York and the nation because his fans refused to let 
him die. Although he is buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Kansas City, he 
lives on in the hearts of jazz lovers everywhere. From March 25th 
through the 27th the nation's ears will focus on Kansas City, where 
some of Charlie Parker's contemporaries will gather to remember the 
great jazz legend at the American Jazz Museum in the 18th and Vine 
Historic Jazz District. Max Roach, Dr. Billy Taylor, Jay McShann, Milt 
Jackson, Claude ``The Fiddler'' Williams, and Ernie Andrews are a few 
of the internationally acclaimed artists who are participating in the 
Symposium and Concert celebration.
  This weekend's dedication of the new Charlie Parker Memorial will 
remind us all of this great musician and inspire the jazz musician in 
all of us to hum a little bebop: ``Hello, Little Girl, don't you 
remember me? I mean, been so long, but I had a break you see.'' (from 
``Hootie Blue,'' recorded for Decca Records by the Jay McShann 
Orchestra, April 30, 1941, Parker's first commercial recording 
session).

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