Charlie Parker

An alto-sax player influenced by Lester Young, he is not a tenor sax player. He was an absolute master of the alto sax. His nickname was the "Bird" since he loved to eat chicken.

Jazz clubs like "Birdland" are in reference to his nickname; he's that influential. He's really known for being virtuostic, and would do note changes that people wouldn't expect to here. He innovated the idea of Chord Subsitution.

He was addicted to herion so much that he would ask for money and then not pay it back. But the idea was that these jazz players brought them to insane highs such that they would be able to play 10 steps ahead of the present.

His method included:

• had new ways of selecting the notes he wanted to solo with
• had new ways of accenting notes (phrases have syncopated and flew against the beat often enough)
• had new ways of adding chords to progressions to imply other chords to use

His style was:

• he had a dry, biting tone
• fortility of his imagination (always composing in his head)
• a dizzying speed (very fast, but like you can't get the ideas out fast enough there's so many)
• he helped the trend for fast playing