Jazz has often moved forward in seismic shifts, powered by revolutionary figures who make everything that came before them seem quaint by comparison and radiate their influence beyond the jazz world.
Perhaps no figure epitomizes such a leap forward more than Charlie Parker. The legendary inventor of bebop, born a little over a century ago, may be the most universally respected and admired musician in jazz, and far beyond.
Parker has been called "The Greatest Individual Musician Who Ever Lived." Not just jazz musician, but musician, period.
There had never been one single musician who influenced "all instruments."
Unlike the swing of Benny Goodman or Louis Armstrong, Parker's bebop is completely non-danceable. He didn't care. He was not an entertainer, he insisted, but an artist.
Jazz might eventually return to danceability in the late 20th century, but the music, and popular music writ large, would never be the same.
|