ePub Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith by Joe Perry in Arts-Photography

Description

Within days of Charlie ldquo;Birdrdquo; Parkerrsquo;s death at the age of thirty-four; a scrawled legend began appearing on walls around New York City: Bird Lives. Gone was one of the most outstanding jazz musicians of any era; the troubled genius who brought modernism to jazz and became a defining cultural force for musicians; writers; and artists of every stripe. Arguably the most significant musician in the country at the time of his death; Parker set the standard many musicians strove to reachmdash;though he never enjoyed the same popular success that greeted many of his imitators. Today; the power of Parkerrsquo;s inventions resonates undiminished; and his influence continues to expand.Celebrating Bird is the groundbreaking and award-winning account of the life and legend of Charlie Parker from renowned biographer and critic Gary Giddins; whom Esquire called ldquo;the best jazz writer in America today.rdquo; Richly illustrated and drawing primarily from original sources; Giddins overturns many of the myths that have grown up around Parker. He cuts a fascinating portrait of the period; from Parkerrsquo;s apprentice days in the 1930s in his hometown of Kansas City to the often difficult years playing clubs in New York and Los Angeles; and reveals how Parker came to embody not only musical innovation and brilliance but the rage and exhilaration of an entire generation.Fully revised and with a new introduction by the author; Celebrating Bird is a classic of jazz writing that the Village Voice heralded as ldquo;a celebration of the highest orderrdquo;mdash;a portrayal of a jazz virtuoso whose gargantuan talent was haunted by his excesses and a view into the ravishing art of one of jazzrsquo;s most commanding and remarkable figures.