If Charlie Parker had lived would he had continue to elevate Bebop or would he had moved into another form of?

Question

jazz, like Miles started with Bebop then moved into Cool and Modal to Straight Ahead then to Fusion and ending with Hip Hop experimentation; and Dizzy went further from Bebop into Latin American music. What would Parker had done if he had lived?

Answer 1

I can't say. Charlie Parker wasn't known for doing what was expected from him. He probably would have gone beyond the limits of bebop and found himself someplace no other sax player had been before.

Answer 2

Of course, it is impossible to be sure, but I don't think that he could have evolved too far beyond his genre. Bird lived in a microcosm that he rarely escaped, and when he escaped it, it was usually to a sanitorium (Camarillo State Hospital, for example). This sort of existence does not lend well to development, growth and innovation. Besides, no one would have accepted anything from Bird other than what he did best - this has plagued musicians forever.

I believe that due to his legendary status, jazz would probably have followed his direction to a certain point, but only in an obligatory fashion. It is doubtful that this would have been too far beyond the bebop genre. Jazz would have continued its path of evolution and Bird might have fit in along various intersections of styles and genres, but I don't believe he would have thrived.

Perhaps the answer is in the recordings of Jackie McLean, Sonny Stitt, Phil Woods and other Bird disciples of the time. I don't believe that those guys evolved like Miles or Diz - they went right from bebop to hard bop and not much further beyond. Yes, I know that Phil Woods did some guest studio recordings with Billy Joel and Steely Dan, but those do not reflect his own recordings as a leader, which are in the hard bop style.

One thing is for certain - more modern recording techniques and technology would have improved his sound. I wish Bird could have recorded with Blue Note and Rudy Van Gelder, the greatest jazz recording engineer of all time. Those would have been some amazing recordings!

Answer 3

He would have musically evolved, maybe even start another jazz sub genre or two. Look at Miles Davis. He was a groundbreaker in bebop, cool, modern, modal, fusion. He was at the forefront of all these genres. Birth Of The Cool was one of the first "cool" records. Kind Of Blue is considered the first modal record. Bitches Brew is considered the first fusion record.
Charlie Parker may have gotten into avant garde or fusion maybe.

Answer 4

Bird was an odd one. He wasn't as driven as John Coltrane, and much of his bebop stuff was with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. He was not the only one into bop, only the best known at the time. I think Bird would most likely have gone first into the modal, and then very possibly into the extended forms of Trane and Eric Dolphy. It's so hard to tell, though. I thought Brubeck was going to be very experimental, and after the quartet broke up, he did blues with Gerry Mulligan, and the basically the same kind of thing he had always done with other musicians.

Answer 5

Artists like Charlie Parker leave their mark and then fade away. He probably would have taken a stab at R&B or, like Louis Jordan, he might have gotten into what was about to become Rock& Roll. Some artists aren't meant to continue on. They blaze a trail and then burn out and leave a mark on society after they pass. Like The Beatles. Everyone wonders how they would have sounded during the 70's. But they were a 60's group.Other notables would be Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, and Robert Johnson. Sometimes its better to have a limited amount of material from an artist rather than have them recycle the same old crap like The Stones or Aerosmith. Could you see Jimi or Janis getting into disco or New Wave? Could you imagine Charlie Parker playing sax on "Brown Sugar"?

Answer 6

We'd all like to imagine a cleaned-up, happy Bird going on to some new jazz innovation. But if Charlie Parker had lived, the sad answer is that he likely would've stayed an addict. I think he would've remained musically in the bebop realm. He would've turned out uneven performances and recordings-- some excellent, others terrible... much like Chet Baker in his last decade.

Answer 7

He was hard bop along with Miles and Coltrane. Jazz players are always evolving--that's the nature of jazz.
I suppose he would have done fusion but after that, I don't know. Not Hip hop.

Answer 8

yeah, i think he would of. he was doing it while he was breathing. all pure artist strive and change. parker, was not just playing bebop, he was plaing afro cuban jazz, he did music with strings. Remember, parker along with monk,and diz, pretty much created bebop, whose to say he wouldnt create another form. artist, who have thier style copied are force to change thier presentation, and form in order to stay on top.

Answer 9

Wow, properly This sounds like it might desire to be a great movie, seeing as Cowboy bebop wasnt too myth like, and Keanu Reeves appears like hed be ideal for spike, this may well be good :-D

Answer 10

He definitely would have evolved. He would have had to, also in the last years of his life he was talking about how he was getting interested in classical music, and started using strings in his music. It is just the nature of musicians to constantly seek higher levels, and new sounds.