1920–1936

Charlie Parker Chronology

 

 

 

 

Created by Leif Bo Petersen

Last updated: December 6. 2022.

 

Date

Event

References/Further Details

 

1920

 

 

August 29

Charlie Parker

852, Freeman Avenue, Kansas City, KS.

Charles [Charlie] Parker Jr is born.

Mother: Addie Parker (maiden name: Bayley or Boxley). born 1891. She grew up in Pittsburg County, OK, but moved to Kansas City as a young girl.

Father: Charles Parker Sr.  born 1886. He grew up in the South but moved to Kansas City with the family as a youngster. Charlie Parker has stated that he waw a dancer in circus in his young years, but he seems  mostly to have worked as a waiter in the railroads. He married Addie in 1916.

Charlie Parker had a half-brother on his father’s side: John “Ikey”,  born in Chicago in 1914.

 

https://www.birdlives.co.uk/childhood: Shows a confirmation note of Charlie Parker’s birth certificate: The mother’s name is listed as Bailey.

Charlie Parker interviewed by Marshall Stearns and John Maher:

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdInterviews.aspx

Addie Parker in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 158.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 7–9, 166 note 10.

 

1925

 

 

September 14

Charlie Parker

Douglass School, Kansas City, KS.

Charlie Parker starts in kindergarten.

 

https://www.birdlives.co.uk/childhood

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 9.

1927

 

 

Summer

Charlie Parker

3527 Wyandotte Avenue, Kansas City, MO.

The family moves in here.

Charlie Parker attends Penn School, 4239 Penn Street,  Westport, Kansas City, MO.

 

https://www.birdlives.co.uk/childhood

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 9–10.

1930

Charlie Parker

109 West 34th  Street Kansas City, MO.

The family is registered here.

Father: janitor.

Mother; unemployed.

Charlie Parker attends Penn School, 4239 Penn Street,  Westport, Kansas City, MO.

 

https://www.birdlives.co.uk/adolesence: 1930 census

 

1931

 

 

 

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker’s mother buys him an alto saxophone when Penn School introduces a music program. He is not very interested and lends the instrument to a friend.

 

M. Levin and J. S. Wilson, “No Bop Roots in Jazz,” Down Beat, September 9, 1949. Here from reprint in C. Woideck (ed.), The Charlie Parker Companion (1998), 73.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 11, 13.

1932

 

 

Summer?

Charlie Parker

1516 Olive Street, Kansas City, MO.

The parents’ marriage ended in 1932.

Addie and Charlie Parker move to 1516 Olive Street.

Charlie Parker enters 7th grade at Sumner School.

 

https://www.birdlives.co.uk/adolesence

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 11-12.

1933

 

 

September

Charlie Parker

Parker starts at Lincoln High School, Kansas City, MO.

He plays baritone horn in the school band.

 

Lawrence Keyes in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 129.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 12-13.

 

1934

 

 

 

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker’s mother buys him an alto saxophone.

 

L. Feather, “Yardbird Flies Home,” Metronome, August 1947. Reprinted in W. Woideck, The Charlie Parker Companion (1998), 61–64: Interview with Charlie Parker. Here Parker dates his mother’s alto sax to 1935.

Lawrence Keyes in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 129: describes the alto instrument as “raggedly…patched up with rubber bands.

Addie Parker in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 162: Buys Charlie another saxophone in 1936, when he starts playing with Simpson.

It seems that 1934 is a more likely year than 1935 and 1936, as stated by Parker and his mother respectively.

 

 

Mary Kirk Band

c. 1934.

Mary Kirk (Andy Kirk’s wife, born Colston) had a small band for a while. Charlie Parker was in this band.

 

S. Britt, “First Lady of Jazz,” Jazz Journal International 34, 9 (1981), 11–12.

Andy Kirk, Twenty Years on Wheel (1989), 80.

 

Charlie Parker

At Lincoln High School Charlie Parker becomes friends with Lawrence Keyes (p) and Robert Simpson (tb) and plays with Keyes band:

Deans of Swing

Including: James Ross (tp); Robert Simpson (tb); Franz Bruze, Vernon Walker (as); Fred Culliver (ts); Walter Brown (voc).

 

Lawrence Keyes in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 129.

April 10

Charlie Parker

The Ruffin family moves to at Addie Parker’s home, 1516 Olive Street.

The Ruffin family: Mother, four sisters, and a brother.

Charlie Parker falls in love with the 16-year-old Rebecca Ellen Ruffin.

 

Addie Parker: in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 158.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 15.

Winter

The Hottentots

Including Robert Simpson (tb) and Oliver Todd (dir).

Frankie’s and Johnny’s.  Kansas City, MO.

Charlie Parker joins the Hottentots but is soon fired because he lacked musical experience.

 

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 16.

1935

 

 

 

Jimmy Keith’s Band

James Ross (tp); Jimmy Keith (ts); possibly Shipley Gavan; possibly Robert Wilson; possibly James Ross; Lawrence Keyes (p); Li’l Phil (d).

High Hat Club, 22nd Street and Vine Street, Kansas City, MO.

c. 1935.

Charlie Parker jams with the Keith Band and gets humiliated.

 

 

M. Levin and J. S. Wilson, “No Bop Roots in Jazz,” Down Beat, September 9, 1949. Reprinted in C. Woideck (ed.), The Charlie Parker Companion (1998), 74-75: Parker tells of playing at a jam session and failing in trying a double tempo on Body and Soul.

Parker interviewed by M. Stearns and J. Maher, May 1, 1950, New York, NY: http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BirdInterviews.html

Parker says that he was playing Honeysuckle Rose alongside Body and Soul. He states that this was before the car accident.

 

June 7

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker performs with the Lincoln High School Orchestra at Rebecca Ruffin’s graduation ceremony.

 

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 17.

August 4

Ten Chords of Rhythm

Including Charlie Parker? (as),  Lawrence Keyes (p), and Elmer Brown (dir).

The Solid Senders

Lincoln Hall. Kansas City, MO.

Opening August 4.

Regular Sunday evening dances and beginning later in September also Friday nights.

 

Ad in Kansas City Call, August 2, 1935, ? Here quoted from C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 17, note 42, 167.

September

Twelve Chords of Rhythm

Wendell Oliver, Ed McDowell, William Smith (tp); Robert Simpson (tb); Vernon Walker, Charlie Parker, Milton Chapman (saxes); Lawrence Keyes (p, arr); Wilfred Berry (g); Charles Forrester (b); Ernest Daniels (d); Elmer Brown (dir); Bernhard Jackson (manager).

Lincoln Hall. Kansas City, MO.

Regular Sunday evening dances and beginning in September also Friday nights.

 

“Young Orchestra Rapidly Increasing in Popularity,” Kansas City Call, September 20, 1935, 9: Lists the personnel.

Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 17

October 22

Twelve Chords of Rhythm

Dance Hall, 2906 Brooklyn Avenue, Kansas City, MO.

 

Ad in Kansas City Star, October 22, 1935, 16: Grand opening tonight.

October 31

George E. Lee and His Original Brunswick Orchestra

(Twelve Chords of Rhythm)

George E. Lee (voc).

Paseo Hall, Kansas City, MO.

The band members join Local 627 on October 31, 1935, to play a gig with George E. Lee at Paseo Hall.

 

https://charlieparkerskc.org/map/18th-vine/local-627mutual-musicians-foundation: Charlie Parker Local 627 union report can be found here.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 18-19.

Autumn/

winter

Twelve Chords of Rhythm

Paseo Hall, Kansas City, MO.

Charnwood Hall, St. Joseph, MO.

Disbanded December 24.

 

Lawrence Keyes in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 129.

Ernest Daniels in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 75: States that they played with Lawrence Keyes for a year and a half. He seems mostly to focus on the period before the members joined the AFM Local.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 19.

 

December

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker drops out of school for good.

 

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 19.

1936

 

 

 

Unidentified Band

Greenleaf Gardens, Kansas City, MO.

Charlie Parker plays here during much of 1936

 

Gene Ramey in R. Reisner: Bird, The Legend of Charlie Parker (1962), 185: Dates 1935.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 19.

Spring late

Jam session

Reno Club, Kansas City, MO.

Charlie Parker and Gene Ramey jam with Basie musicians at a Spook Breakfast.

Charlie Parker gets humiliated by Jo Jones, who throws a cymbal after him.

Gene Ramey in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 184-86.

F. Büchmann-Møller, You Just Fight for Your Life (1990), 226.: Count Basie with Lester Young played at the Reno Club February–September 1936

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 21.

 

July 25

Charlie Parker

Kansas City Courthouse, Kansas, MO.

Charlie Parker marries Rebecca Ellen Ruffin.

 

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 21.

November 26

George Wilkerson Band

Including: Clarence Davis (tp); Charlie Parker (as); Carrie Powell (p); Lon Tolbert (g); George Wilkerson (b); Ernie Daniels (d).

Musser's Ozark Tavern, Eldon, MO

November 26, 1936.

On the road to Eldon  for the opening gig at Musser’s Ozark Tavern one of the cars crashes. Wilkerson dies and Parker and Daniels are severely hurt.

 

Ernest Daniels in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 75-76

Addie Parker in R. Reisner, Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1975), 167.

C. Haddix, Bird -The Life and Music of Charlie Parker (2013), 24-25.