Looks like we don't have salary information. They didn’t want to expose me to that. They were just regular people, not musicians. Parker, Kim, Flanagan, Tommy - Good Girl - Amazon.com Music. Bird loved Cowboys and Indians. Even though her time together with Bird was less than five years, from about age four until about age eight, her clear memory of that happy time made it seem much longer to her. I don’t have to consult with another party. When you hear a Charlie Parker solo on a real up tempo tune, it’s going from his heart to his head through his fingers to his mouth, and that is happening instantaneously. Kim Parker now lives in Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania, and she continues to sing occasionally in nightclubs and other venues. We didn’t have Sunday dinner every week, but it was really fun. I still have them. Megan Rose. My mother just felt powerless to change him, to help him because he was self-destructive. 4:11 PREVIEW Hooray. The structure is there but it’s amplified and enlarged by improvisation. He didn’t bring heroin home. What was your life like on 52nd street? Kraig Parker . At age 32, Kim Parker had left a … Not too surprisingly she grew up around music, being eight years old when Charlie Parker died. He was a real square at home. Then we moved us to Lumberville. I remember we lived on 11th Street before the final place we lived in New York. with American singer Kim Parker, the stepdaughter of the jazz legend Charlie " Bird" Parker, all over the world. Her tears flowed freely and they were joined by sympathetic tears in the eyes of all of us who had joined the interview. Pree’s death – that was it. We never had a musician in the house. I had no idea that this would be far freakier than me vomiting every day, to show up with this guy. Account & Lists Account Returns & … I hung out with the doorman and the strippers and musicians, and there my mother discovered jazz. She has great memories and imagination. Sorry! And she vividly remembered how deeply her mother had grieved for Pree. At that time, cystic fibrosis had not bee isolated as a disease, so it had no name. Roy Rogers was a famous TV cowboy and Gabby Hayes was his pal. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic. That just makes me so happy to think of him that way. They discouraged her from acting because she wasn’t very good. Q:What do you remember about Baird and Pree? Not too surprisingly she grew up… I’d have to go back to my grandmother and grandfather. Bird said “ Hi! She is funny, silly, and lovable, and is very caring, but very dimwitted. Parker was a blazingly fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. She had a piano and taught herself to read chord symbols in one week so she could transpose songs down a fourth, a circumstance necessitated by the vocal range that she had been blessed with. Not too surprisingly she grew up around music, being eight years old when Charlie Parker died. Not really too amazingly she was raised around music, getting eight yrs. Kim showed me some pictures that had been taken when she was a little girl. Baird also had a celiac condition when he was born. August 12, 2019 We would go to a place that sold magic tricks. Would it be strange! What do you remember about that evening? The piano style of Håkan Rydin has been The piano style of Håkan Rydin has been Avenue B (Manhattan) (784 words) [view diff] no match in snippet view article My mother would say, “Daddy’s in Chicago,” or something like that. She was 32 years old at the time and had become empowered by the experience of being pregnant and bearing a child naturally. She also runs a large private flute studio. The mythology of him secured his fame, all the larger than life aspects of him. She was an Iowa farm girl, the fifth daughter born, followed by five boys. However, after her son Alexander was born in 1976, she resumed singing professionally. The world needs this music more than ever.”. Your email address will not be published. Chan was known as “The Queen of 52nd Street.”]. He said, “I don’t want that in here; that’s dirty.” It was pretty much across the board – everybody – no musicians ever came to the house. He just wanted it all, and you can’t have it all. In 2015, Kim Parker gave a revealing interview to Jazz Ambassadors in which she talked about Parker the man. I still have that. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. I remember riding up town with him and my mom. That was a big thing with the whole family. I have his opera glasses! When my grandma had a house in Riverdale, NY, after work at the Cotton Club musicians would come to her place and play through the rest of the night. She was surrounded by many people in New York City. My mother always felt that if he’d just stayed with heroin he might have lived. ... El Duo Jazz Guitar. You wrote a song for Baird. 1983 Preview SONG TIME Bijou (I'm Crazy for You) Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan Trio, Jesper Lundgaard, Kim Parker & Ed Thigpen. Pree was out in front in this little area in her carriage. Full film now streaming. I had a sense of reverence and timelessness as I carefully turned some of the pages. Not too surprisingly she grew up around music, being eight years old when Charlie Parker died. Kim Parker Photo by Garth Woods. Kim-Chan-and-Pree - Chan holding Pree and Kim holding her dog, circa 1951. "The movie is valid because it encompasses happiness and death and the pain and anguish of those final years," insists singer Kim Parker, who was 9 when Bird died. Why didn’t you write a song for Pree? Two sources have helped Kim to remember things about her childhood: the work “My Life in E-Flat,” a memoir written about the life of Chan Richardson Parker, and the huge diary that Chan had kept in beautiful handwriting on pages of Filofax size. My grandma had her own after-hours club. Health & Wellness Website. Full film now streaming. We often went to a coffee house in West 4th and Washington Square. I live alone. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosictechnique, and advanced harmonies. Adopted by jazz great Charlie Parker, stepdaughter of renowned Phil Woods: This East Stroudsburg vocalist’s musical pedigree goes on, as do her songs. Kim Parker, wearing a light blue casual long dress, warmly welcomed us as we arrived at the home of her good friend Verne Christensen in Olathe, Kansas. So I really like it. But at heart he was a family man, and he loved his kids and he loved my mother, and so that was the side that no one got to see, because he kept everyone away. Impressed with her performance, a producer insisted that she take part in the recording of his new jazz album, “New Souls,” with Phil Woods and Larry Gelb. So at 6 years old they were going to bring Baird home from the hospital, and I got in Pree’s playpen with a baby bottle filled with orange juice, and I sat in the playpen and waited for them to come home and see their BIG baby, their ORIGINAL baby! I have a picture of all of us. The whole year was like this in her diary, one guy after another! old when Charlie Parker passed away. old when Charlie Parker … Kim Parker has not slowed down, and she is actively selecting tunes for her next performance in April of 2016. Q: How do you continue to tell about Charlie Parker to the next generation as his daughter and as a jazz singer? He’s so handsome, he’s so wonderful, but he only has eyes for Clair. All she did was say, “Oh, I love Johnny! Q: Do you remember when Bird and your mother first got together? I do remember Baird because, for some reason – I probably needed attention – Baird was six years younger than me. Kim Parker is spinning a yarn about her stepfather, Charlie Parker, when a hummingbird swings by to greet her. Yes, I’m really the only one now. Although some aspects of the life of Charlie Parker might be described as departing from societal norms, Kim credits him with being a good family man. Last year, I went to 3527 Wyandotte [in Kansas City, Missouri]. We have really mined some gold this time. Looks like we don't have pictures. They didn’t know who he was – he was just this guy. Kim: No, I didn’t understand. 1946 1980s - 1990s August 22 Bop Jazz Kim Parker Kim Parker - Good Girl Kim Parker - Havin' Myself a Time Kim Parker - Sometimes I'm Blue Modern Creative Standards Vocal. 4:11 PREVIEW Hooray. I could get you that photo, if you like. Somebody once was interviewing her and said, “Tell me about you and Bird and how you got along.” And she said, “Well, he didn’t like my meatloaf…” [Laughter builds all around]. She teaches group flute lessons in addition to music theory courses. In some cases details had faded in her memory, and she was fuzzy about exact ages and time periods. Kim Parker is a jazz singer in her own right, and says she thinks of the history of the man the public knows as Bird, and the man who was her father … No one in NYC had ever seen anything like it. However, after her son Alexander was born in 1976, she resumed singing professionally. She and her husband had just returned from two years of living in a ramshackle summer house in Maine that was entirely without the modern conveniences of electricity and running water. After Bird died, my mother spoiled him and let people call him “Little Bird.”. He’d sit there and they’d call him Charlie. Bird was 25 years old and it was Chan’s 21st birthday. He was bringing me home some giant stuffed animals, a rabbit, or something, from the road. Q: What was Bird’s relationship like with Baird & Pree? He had people like Will Rogers and May West and Fatty Arbuckle and famous people on the shows. [Laughs] He didn’t seek to prolong his life. Character Information Kim Parker was born on October 31, 1981, on Halloween in Los Angeles, California, she was Moesha Mitchell's best friend. Think of it that way and maybe you’ll understand how phenomenal it is. You have to take her back to school.” Bird walked me back to school, and there I was with my Daddy’s hand. Kim: I think everybody came around. He used Shorty Sherock (1946), Alvino …, Your email address will not be published. Blisswithb. I remember very well our next apartment at 151st Avenue B, which is now a landmark, it has historical value. During this time, she moon-lighted as a jazz singer. It can barely even be measured. Having been raised during Charlie Parker’s most emotionally difficult period, Kim witnessed it all! Kim Parker Photo by Garth Woods. Just realize that there’s a chord structure but then everything else is improvised on that structure. I really loved him. 1983 Preview SONG TIME Bijou (I'm Crazy for You) Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan Trio, Jesper Lundgaard, Kim Parker & Ed Thigpen. It sounds to me like Sunday dinners contributed to Bird’s death. Special guest Kim Parker attended the celebration that took place on August 29, 2015, in Kansas City to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the birth of saxophone legend Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920-1955). Kim Parker Profile: The daughter of Chan Parker and the stepdaughter of both Charlie Parker and Phil Woods, Kim Parker in the 1980s emerged as a fine (although just part-time) jazz singer. We each had an ocarina, you know, a little pipe. Q: There are a lot of experts on Bird. I had no idea. But I stopped vomiting. Jazz singer sang in high school, spent a year at Hofstra University on a drama scholarship and was named best jazz vocalist in the Villanova Inter-Collegiate Jazz Festival. Kim seemed really happy talking about her sweet father and that period in her life. And he would just beam he was just in his element. It seems like that was a turning point in the relationship. His drugs and alcohol and all that stuff, that his excesses had somehow poisoned her. Our process is extravagantly simple: When we’re both in town, we get together once a week and try to thrill each other. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. They've known each other since preschool. Kim showed me some of the thick volumes and allowed me to open one of them. She was inspired by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, all of whom she knew well as family friends. And we would sit off stage left, sort of back a little bit. !” [Laugh]. My grandfather, Benjamin David Feinberg, was born in 1880. My mother wrote about it. Before we knew it, the two hour interview was over. See more of Kimberly Parker - Vocalist, Singer, Songwriter on Facebook. Chan Parker’s Diary, 1955 [Bird met Chan in 1943. Kim: I think it was an accumulation of things. Although Kim attended high school for a period in Switzerland, she returned to the United States and studied acting, both in high school and at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The daughter of Chan Parker and the stepdaughter of both Charlie Parker and Phil Woods, Kim Parker in the 1980s emerged as a fine (although just part-time) jazz singer. Isla Eckinger, Kim Parker, Ed Thigpen & Mal Waldron. I think that’s the only way to approach people. Kim: My mother was very upset because Pree was sickly. Looks like we don't have interesting facts information. My range has narrowed with age, but my repertoire and soul are so much deeper!” She went on, “Music to me now is a form of shared love. It’s not that it doesn’t have a structure. began singing seriously in 1976. When Alec was born, Chan had come from France to the United States for a brief period, and Kim had joined her mother’s singing group, “Quintessence.” She loved singing the close harmonies and often sang the tenor part. The daughter of Chan Parker and the stepdaughter of both Charlie Parker and Phil Woods, Kim Parker in the 1980s emerged as a fine (although just part-time) jazz singer. This is why I accepted your interview.”. It’s heartbreaking how much she loved him, because he was “ the true love” of her life. 1985 Preview SONG TIME Born to Be Blue. We had a corner bar on Avenue B and Bird would go in there. Were there any issues with an interfaith marriage? It seems to me that phase of the relationship is when Bird and Chan were very tight. He could look at you and lie and he was so convincing. My grandmother was 34 years old. When did you first notice they were drifting apart? She was so hip, everybody wanted her. My grandfather died in 1931. She swings with a wonderful rhythmic sense. She was probably the hippest jazz wife the world has ever known. Bird took me. Parker had doted over Pree, her younger brother Baird and his step-child Kim. She was so bereft. She was not prejudiced. It was just a beautiful and wonderful experience. It is essential to me now. My grandmother took the call and she didn’t want to tell my mother over the phone because she was afraid my mother would have an accident coming home, which was a wise decision So I went to bed. Her original name was Beverly Delores Berg. Musician/Band. Megan Rose.