Chasin' the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker

By Brian Priestley

Book Overview

In his short life, Parker was one of the most influential musicians in jazz, and together with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, he was the main architect of the modern jazz revolution of the 1940s known as bebop. Addicted to drugs and alcohol, and with a tangled private life, Parker died young, and a legend grew up about his tragic genius.

Chasin' the Bird is a completely revised and expanded edition of the short biography of Charlie Parker by Brian Priestley first published in 1984 which quickly established itself as the most succinct, accurate and readable book on Parker. This edition, which is twice the length of the original, incorporates material which has come to light since the first edition was published. It also provides an expanded discussion of performances and recordings, with a complete discography, notes and bibliography.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1845533291
• ISBN13: 9781845533298
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The best of Bird in brief

Here's a perfect short critical biography of one of the finest and most influential musicians in America's--and the world's--history. The book offers a few new anecdotes even to readers familiar with the literature, corrects several previous biographical errors, then goes on to give a musicological analysis of Charlie Parker's works and their implications. The latter offers both musical examples as well as reference points of current Parker CDs so even nonreaders of music can understand the point. There is some technical detail that requires musical knowledge, but lay reader can still get through this with an excellent understanding of why many of us still believe "Bird lives"!