Charlie Parker, nicknamed ‘Bird’, was an American jazz saxophone player and composer. He was born in 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Charlie began playing the saxophone when he was about 12 years old. In 1939, he moved to New York City where he performed in the jazz clubs of Harlem. Some of Charlie’s best known songs are: Ornithology, Anthropology, and Billie’s Bounce.

Charlie Parker died in 1955. Today, he is considered one of America’s greatest Jazz musicians.

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Text by Clare Fogerty & Ilana Fayerman.
Image by Meredith Claire.