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A review by jdscott50
Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch
4.0
There really isn't a definitive biography on Charlie Parker. He lives in myth and legend in Jazz culture. Stanley Crouch is able to unearth his story with the expertise of a professor, but with the familiarity of an old friend. The book isn't bogged down with academic footnotes and experts (even though he does have them referenced.) Crouch is able to give the story such a familiarity it's like he experienced it himself.
The first part of a two part biography doesn't detail Charlie Parker's success, but focuses on his struggles and failures. Crouch describes how Parker gets the music bug and obsessively watches his musical heroes (he even names his first born son after Leon Chu Berry.) He strives for success but is met with rejection time and time again. His handsome face and suave style get him the attention of some fans, but only breed resentment from his fellow musicians. It's heartbreaking to see him try and play with the bigger bands only to be loudly laughed off the stage (in one case a drummer throws his cymbal onto the stage to get him off). It seems his personal life is on track when he marries Rebecca, his first love, and they have a son. However, the rejection and the musician's life take its toll. Charlie develops a heroin addiction, one that he would have the rest of his life. He eventually leaves his wife and son to hobo to Chicago and New York to try to make it big. His beginning here is where this part of the book ends.
It is this time period that takes center stage in the biography. It's difficult to understand the struggle Charlie Parker had without showing the talent he learned from and how they were viewed by the jazz community. The familiarity and dialogue help get the reader immersed; we see how hyper competitive and ruthless jazz musicians could be. In one part Crouch quotes a musician stating that there was, "so much ass cut-up we was waste deep." The familiarity helps pierce the veil of the culture, bringing an insider's expertise to the wider world.
Generally, this will be the definitive biography on Charlie Parker since no other author has demonstrated the overall familiarity with the age, as well as the man. The opening scene to the book shows Charlie Parker dominating the New York stage in a one on one jazz competition in New York, merely the beginning of what he would become, but Crouch understands that struggle. In that struggle is the man behind the myth.
The first part of a two part biography doesn't detail Charlie Parker's success, but focuses on his struggles and failures. Crouch describes how Parker gets the music bug and obsessively watches his musical heroes (he even names his first born son after Leon Chu Berry.) He strives for success but is met with rejection time and time again. His handsome face and suave style get him the attention of some fans, but only breed resentment from his fellow musicians. It's heartbreaking to see him try and play with the bigger bands only to be loudly laughed off the stage (in one case a drummer throws his cymbal onto the stage to get him off). It seems his personal life is on track when he marries Rebecca, his first love, and they have a son. However, the rejection and the musician's life take its toll. Charlie develops a heroin addiction, one that he would have the rest of his life. He eventually leaves his wife and son to hobo to Chicago and New York to try to make it big. His beginning here is where this part of the book ends.
It is this time period that takes center stage in the biography. It's difficult to understand the struggle Charlie Parker had without showing the talent he learned from and how they were viewed by the jazz community. The familiarity and dialogue help get the reader immersed; we see how hyper competitive and ruthless jazz musicians could be. In one part Crouch quotes a musician stating that there was, "so much ass cut-up we was waste deep." The familiarity helps pierce the veil of the culture, bringing an insider's expertise to the wider world.
Generally, this will be the definitive biography on Charlie Parker since no other author has demonstrated the overall familiarity with the age, as well as the man. The opening scene to the book shows Charlie Parker dominating the New York stage in a one on one jazz competition in New York, merely the beginning of what he would become, but Crouch understands that struggle. In that struggle is the man behind the myth.