For some reason or another, I previously hadn’t read a book about Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker so when I came across this, published by the University of Illinois Press I was intrigued. I took it with me when I was in America recently, started reading it at San Francisco airport and by the time I arrived in Dallas it was finished. That is not because it is an incredibly short book (excluding the references and notes it is just over 160 pages long), but rather that it is written in an incredibly engaging and fast moving style that really brings the reader into the world that Bird lived in. It is not an academic tome dissecting every note to the nth degree, but rather is about Charlie the person and what drove him. It makes no apologies for him, but rather lays out the facts and lets the reader make up their own mind as what they think of Parker. Of course, a book about Charlie must also be a book about his music and the people he played with, but that part is more about explaining how he got from a to b, and what paths he had to get there.
I enjoy reading musical biographies, and the difference between this and the last one that I read (Peter Criss) is somewhat startling. Neither of them led idyllic lives, and both have obviously suffered somewhat, but while after reading Peter’s book I felt that I still wasn’t any closer to really knowing him as a person, that is certainly not the case with Haddix’s book. It is obviously a work of love by someone who knows the subject matter really well, but he has taken great pains to reference what he is saying so that one can look up the source if one feels the need. He strikes a balance between talking about Bird’s addictions and demons and dwelling on them, and the result is a much clearer understanding of Parker as an individual and what experiences he encountered which made him the musician that he ended up being.
I can’t comment as to how this book will be seen by those who have extensively researched the man, but for someone like me who has never really studied him this is a revelation, and a book that I enjoyed reading immensely. Highly recommended
