Ricky Frein7 April 2014Research PaperCharlie Parker, a legendary jazz musician, was born on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. He grew up as an only child and later dropped out of school to start a music career. He created Bebop with Dizzy Gillespie and they made a couple of albums together. Towards the end of his career, he started using drugs and having some mental problems. At one point he even attempted suicide by drinking iodine. His health deteriorated and he eventually died due to drug abuse. He is best known for being a great musical artist and for developing Bebop. He is often remembered for saying "Don't play the saxophone, let it play you." (Source 1) Charlie Parker's parents were Charles and Addie Parker. His father was an African-American stage entertainer, pianist, and dancer while his mother, Addie, worked nights at the local Western-Union office. When Charlie was seven years old, his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Jazz, blues and gospel music were very popular at that time in Kansas City and Charlie began to realize that he had a musical talent, so he began taking music lessons in public school. He also began playing in the school band and played the baritone horn for a school play. He sometimes played the saxophone in nearby local clubs. Around this time, his father abandoned the family and later that year Charlie dropped out of school to pursue a full-time music career. Charlie loved to play and people loved to hear him play. He began to receive so much attention that he soon began traveling and playing on the streets. He played nightclubs with jazz and blues bands and started earning more money. He toured Chicago and New York with other bands, and...... middle of paper......on Fifty-Two Street", "Bird and Diz" and "Jazz at Messy Hall". Some of the His other successes were winning Grammy Awards for the Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Award and an award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo. He is remembered for changing the world of jazz music by using complex rhythms and an improvised style Club in New York, which was renamed Bird Land in his honor. Charlie Parker lived only thirty-five years. His life was not always so beautiful and he had many difficulties, but he loved playing music and this shaped his life in many ways interrupted due to his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, he is remembered today for being one of the best known saxophonists in the world and for creating the music called Bebop and his influence will continue to live on today the music he created.