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Up To Date

Haddix On Charlie Parker

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.
When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.