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YMMV / Charlie Parker

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  • Awesome Music:
    • Despite being a prolific composer, masterful soloist, and arguably the definitive saxophone virtuoso, his album Charlie Parker With Strings is still considered one of the greatest jazz recordings of all time.
    • For most jazz aficionados, his 1945–48 recordings for the Savoy label (and its sister label Dial) are the essential Charlie Parker and the pinnacle of his output. They feature the first and freshest recordings of many of his classic tunes, and in some respects Parker never had such a good band ever again: the sidemen vary from session to session but include trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee and Miles Davis; pianists Bud Powell, Duke Jordan, Errol Garner and John Lewis; trombonist J.J. Johnson; bassists Curley Russell and Tommy Potter; guitarist Barney Kessel, and drummer Max Roach.
  • Fan Nickname: "Bird" or "Yardbird" were the nicknames he was given upon joining the Earl Hines Band. Contrary to legend, he wasn't called "Bird" because of the way he played, but because of his legendary appetite: on tour, the band's car drove through (or hit, depending on who tells the story) a flock of hens, and the eternally-hungry Parker asked "Why don't we go back and get some of them yardbirds?"

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