On Thursday evening, The Jazz Legacy Project brought the music of Charlie Parker to an audience that filled Festival Hall in Greensboro.
The talents of narrator and drummer Justin Varnes, saxophonist John Sandford, bass player Kevin Smith, and pianist Nathanial Smith combined to wow the audience in presenting the life, times, and music of American jazz saxophonist Charles Parker.
Considered the “Einstein of Modern Music,” Parker was a highly influential soloist and the leader of bebop, a type of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and advanced harmonies. Primarily playing the alto saxophone, Parker was a true jazz musician rather than an entertainer and he created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes now referred to as “Bird Changes.”
Born in 1920 in Kansas City, at an early age, Parker was nicknamed “Yardbird,” and later, just “Bird.” He began playing the saxophone when he was 11 and died in 1955 at just 34 years old. Some of his best-known compositions were “Ah-Leu-Cha,” “Confirmation,” “Moose the Mooche,” “Yardbird Suite,” and “Anthropology,” co-written with Dizzy Gillespie.
In the words of Miles Davis, “You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker.”
The final performance of this year’s Jazz Legacy Project will be on Thursday, Oct. 10 from 7:30-9 p.m. at Festival Hall, featuring the music of Ella Fitzgerald, “From Apollo Girl to Memorex Lady.”
For more information and tickets, visit online at festivalhallga.com.