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A review by mjanemartin
Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch
4.0
I've been on a kick of jazz musician biographies, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington most recently. This is the best and the most readable of the three. It's not bogged down in music theory and minutiae. It's very readable and there's quite a bit about the LIFE of Parker (not just facts and descriptions of music chord changes).
Charlie Parker was an amazing musician and pure genius. He also had demons. When the coroner performed his autopsy (he didn't know who Parker was), he guesstimated him to be in his 50's. He was 34. Such was the life of most jazz musicians. Heroin addicted more of the big names than not. Almost all struggled with drugs or alcohol. There were very few exceptions. Parker was a huge loss. So tragic.
My only complaint with this book, is a lot of it is not about Parker, but those surrounding him. Buddy Bolden, Walter Page, Buster Smith etc...Some of these names were unknown to me (some not), but pages were devoted to them, without any mention of Parker. I will say that I am a jazz fan of the big names, many lesser known I was unfamiliar with. I am by no means a jazz aficionado. I found it hard to be interested in these minor players (only minor in my limited knowledge) without being familiar with their music.
All in all, an excellent biography, especially if you're interested in a complete picture of what was happening in the world of jazz during Parker's time. It is most evident that author Stanley Crouch knows his jazz inside and out.
Charlie Parker was an amazing musician and pure genius. He also had demons. When the coroner performed his autopsy (he didn't know who Parker was), he guesstimated him to be in his 50's. He was 34. Such was the life of most jazz musicians. Heroin addicted more of the big names than not. Almost all struggled with drugs or alcohol. There were very few exceptions. Parker was a huge loss. So tragic.
My only complaint with this book, is a lot of it is not about Parker, but those surrounding him. Buddy Bolden, Walter Page, Buster Smith etc...Some of these names were unknown to me (some not), but pages were devoted to them, without any mention of Parker. I will say that I am a jazz fan of the big names, many lesser known I was unfamiliar with. I am by no means a jazz aficionado. I found it hard to be interested in these minor players (only minor in my limited knowledge) without being familiar with their music.
All in all, an excellent biography, especially if you're interested in a complete picture of what was happening in the world of jazz during Parker's time. It is most evident that author Stanley Crouch knows his jazz inside and out.