This four-part exhibit, co-curated by the American Jazz Museum and Chuck Haddix of UMKC Libraries and the LaBudde Special Collections, provides an in-depth look at Parker's brilliance and charisma which features groundbreaking research, album covers, sheet music, and rare audio selections. Sponsored in part by Spotlight Charlie Parker and Bird 100 Charlie Parker.
Yardbird Is Born
Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Charlie Parker come of age musically while hanging around the alleyways behind the nightclubs that lined 12th Street in Kansas City, Missouri. On August 29, 1920, Doctor J. R. Thompson delivered Charlie in the family’s two-room apartment at 852 Freeman Avenue. Like many other African Americans, Charlie’s parents, Addie and Charles Senior migrated to Kansas City from the south, Addie hailed from southeastern Oklahoma. Charles, the son of a minister, traveled widely across the south.
Charlie Parker's family apartment at 3527 Wyandotte by Missouri Valley Room, Kansas City Public Library |American Jazz Museum
Charles, Sr. worked as a Pullman Porter on the Railroad. Addie, a doting mother, spoiled Charlie, a pudgy precocious child with a cherubic smile. She dressed him in the finest clothes and fussed over his long hair. Charlie walked at eleven months and began speaking complete sentences at two years old. Charlie adored his half-brother John Anthony Parker, who lived up the hill with their grandmother.
In 1927, Charlie’s family moved to a spacious apartment at 3527 Wyandotte, located in the heart of a middle class neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri.
Charlie Parker's family apartment at 109 W. 34th Street by Missouri Valley Room, Kansas City Public Library |American Jazz Museum
Charles Sr. worked as a janitor in an apartment building on the corner of 36th and Wyandotte. When the owners of the apartment building converted it to condominiums in 1930, the Parker family moved around the corner to 109 W. 34th St. Both buildings stand today.
Yardbird In School
Charlie attended Penn School, in Westport, located in a mixed race community a mile south of the family’s apartment. Named after William Penn, Penn School was the first school established west of the Mississippi River to educate African American students.
Charlie Parker at Penn School (1931) by LaBudde Special Collections, The University of Missouri-Kansas City |American Jazz Museum
Charlie first picked up the saxophone in fifth grade, when the school district introduced a music program at Penn. Years later, Charlie recalled not being quite “ready” for the saxophone and that he picked up the baritone horn in high school before switching back to sax.
An 11-year-old Charlie is pictured top row, second to the left. He's wearing an all-white outfit.
Charlie Parker at age 16 (1936) by The University of Missouri-Kansas City |American Jazz Museum
One day the music teacher caught Charlie and other boys goofing off outside the school. He called them yardbirds and told them to get back in the school.
Charlie picked up on the colloquialism and began referring to his favorite food, chicken, as yardbird, foreshadowing his future nickname.
Home at 1516 Olive Street by Missouri Valley Room, Kansas City Public Library |American Jazz Museum
The next year, Charlie’s parents separated. Charles, Sr. drifted off and Addie moved across town to 15th and Olive. Charlie finished grade school at Sumner School at 2121 Charlotte Street.
Yardbird's Songs
Each online exhibit of Saxophone Supreme ends with two songs played by Charlie Parker. Go to the next slide to listen to a couple of his great hits.
Saxophone Supreme . Body and Soul by The University of Missouri-Kansas City |American Jazz Museum
The first song featured is his rendition of "Body and Soul," played in Chicago, Illinois in 1943.
Saxophone Supreme . I'm Getting Sentimental Over You by The University of Missouri-Kansas City |American Jazz Museum
The second song is "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," played by the Jay McShann Orchestra in 1941. His saxophone solo near the middle of the song garnered national recognition.
Content provided by the American Jazz Museum and Chuck Haddix of UMKC Libraries and LaBudde Collections.
Curation: Geri Sanders & Chuck Haddix
Installation and Research: Katharine Molnar
Exhibit Design: Sean McCue & Marissa Baum
Digitization: Luke Harbur
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