The sweet saxophone of Charlie Parker became legendary in jazz music, but the Kansas City hometown talent had a rocky life, with musical highlights and the lows of heroin addiction.
In the first part of Thursday's Up to Date, we talk with KCUR’s Chuck Haddix about Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, the new biography he’s written on Parker. We’ll examine the stories it brings to light about the troubled but talented musician, his meteoric rise and his steep fall.
Guest:
- Chuck Haddix joined the staff of KCUR in 1984 and began producing Fish Fry in 1985. A faculty member at UMKC, Haddix is the director of the Marr Sound Archives, a collection of 250,000 sound recordings housed in the Miller Nichols Library. He is a writer who has been published in Down Beat and Living Blues Magazine.
