Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Whatever background you bring to it, the book willl likely enrich your understanding of Parker's music. . . ." -- Cadence
As one of the architects of modern jazz (often called "bebop"), Charlie Parker (1920-55) had a profound effect on American music that continues to this day.
This book opens with a chapter of biography and then progresses to four chapters focusing on Charlie Parker's music by tracing his artistic evolution and major achievements as a jazz improviser. Much like a guided tour through an artist's retrospective, the book introduces readers to a sampling of Charlie Parker's most illustrative works. The musical discussions and transcribed musical examples are keyed to compact disc timings for easy location--a feature unique to this book.
"The musical analysis is brilliant, particularly the pre-1945 fragments." -- DownBeat
". . . debunks the stereotype that jazz musicians are unschooled and unsophisticated when it comes to music as art rather than entertainment. . . . [An] insightful and informative addition to the literature of jazz." --Calvin Wilson, Kansas City Star
Carl Woideck is Instructor of Jazz History, University of Oregon.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. vii)
• Acknowledgments (p. xiii)
• Part 1. The Life of Charlie Parker
• Chapter 1. A Biographical Sketch (p. 3)
• Part 2. The Music of Charlie Parker
• Introduction to the Musical Chapters (p. 53)
• Chapter 2. 1940-43 (p. 63)
• Chapter 3. 1944-46 (p. 103)
• Chapter 4. 1947-49 (p. 131)
• Chapter 5. 1950-55 (p. 175)
• Some Final Thoughts (p. 219)
• Appendixes
• A. A Selected Charlie Parker Discography (p. 225)
• B. Four Complete Solo Transcriptions (p. 229)
• 1. "Honey and Body" (p. 229)
• 2. "Oh, Lady Be Good!" (p. 234)
• 3. "Parker's Mood" (Take 5) (p. 237)
• 4. "Just Friends" (p. 240)
• Notes (p. 243)
• References (p. 265)
• Index (p. 271)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of alto saxophonist Charlie "Yardbird" Parker in the history of jazz. Parker's unique sound and extremely advanced technique changed forever the way the saxophone is played. Along with fellow pioneers Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, and others, Parker helped invent bebop, which revolutionized jazz with its frenetic tempos and complex harmonic structure. Woideck (jazz history, Univ. of Oregon) devotes the majority of this book to a well-written and accessible analysis of Parker's music, illustrating points with transcriptions from various recordings. The analysis section is subdivided by time period and also incorporates the recollections of other musicians involved in the sessions. While the untrained reader will likely find it rather rough going, Woideck has worked hard to keep his analysis accessible to anyone with a basic understanding of music. Since Parker's life story is covered in a one-chapter "biographical sketch," Woideck's book will not take the place of such successful biographies as Gary Giddins's Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker (Morrow, 1987) and Robert Reisner's Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (Da Capo, 1975). Still, students of jazz will welcome this text; strongly recommended for all jazz collections.‘Rick Anderson, Penacook, N.H. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Charlie Parker didn't invent jazz. He didn't even reinvent it; jazz simply transformed from big band swing into a fierce new sound called bebop, which just so happened to be cast in Parker's image. It's the Kansas City saxophonist's virtuosity that fans often consider bebop's greatest victory. The latest contribution to the University of Michigan's American Music Series fails to dispel Bird's enormous myth or transport that myth into the realm of hard fact. Perhaps Woideck's opening biographical sketch is so desultory and insecure because Parker, a womanizer and heroin addict for most of his adult life, never proved too dependable. Also, while there are frequent references to the considerable endnotes, it would have been helpful if the many important first-person quotations regarding Parker's life and career were explicitly credited. Although the year-by-year analyses and solo transcriptions that comprise the remainder of this study do go on to demonstrate an understanding of Parker's technical developments that is clearer than most such academic analyses, this volume is not likely to appeal to lay fans. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Considering Parker's central role in the development of what is still known as "modern" jazz, it is surprising that he has not been the subject of more book-length treatments. The first section of Woideck's study is a straightforward and undecorated biographical sketch. Readers who are interested in the "mythical" Parker will want to look elsewhere--e.g., Robert Reisner's entertaining Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker (1962), Ross Russell's novelistic and engrossing, though sometimes questionably accurate, Bird Lives (CH, Nov'73), or Gary Giddins's excellent (and more up-to-date) Celebrating Bird (1987). Woideck discusses virtually every recording session that Parker ever took part in, including live recordings, some only recently available. His discussion is more analytical and less subjective than that found in Lawrence Koch's Yardbird Suite (CH, May'89). The author convincingly divides Parker's career into four "periods." He illustrates the musical features that characterize each period with numerous musical examples and in one complete solo transcription from each period. Because of the technical nature of the musical discussion, this book will be of interest primarily to musicians. Appendixes include a select discography and the solo transcriptions. General and academic collections. K. R. Dietrich; Ripon College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Carl Woideck is a saxophonist and Instructor of Jazz History, University of Oregon.