Episode 299 Bird Lives - The Musical Life of Charlie 'Bird' Parker

About this episode

This episode explores the life of jazz musician Charlie Parker and his rise to fame in 1920s Kansas City amidst the backdrop of Prohibition.

Well, in this episode we dig into our Kansas City Roots. We go to Kansas City in the 1920's where under 'Boss' Pendergast the city was a machine that kept clubs open all night and the liquor flowing. It was a town famous for being a little naive, jazz, good barbecue and something called the Kansas City Stomp. Kansas City had heard rumors of Prohibition and wanted no truck with it. It was into this world that a young man named Charlie Parker, a man who would be nicknamed 'Bird' began to play an alto sax and he would get humiliated and come back stronger. He became a good musician, and then he was in a car accident that broke his ribs and twisted his spine. He was given morphine for the pain and this would start a second addiction, the first was to music. He studied and practiced all he could in recovery and when he emerged he was a different player, he took the town by storm and he would go on to become one of the greats of Jazz and he'd become a big part of a muisc called bebop. So come listen to a local tale of Kansas City and learn how a man became a myth and musical legend in this magical, mythical and musical episode of the Family Plot Podcast Become a supporter of this…

People in this episode

Host: Family Plot Podcast

Topics covered

• jazz
• Kansas City history
• Charlie Parker
• Prohibition
• music addiction
• bebop

Keywords

• Charlie Parker
• Kansas City
• jazz
• bebop
• Prohibition
• music history
• addiction

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: bebop

Places: Kansas City

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