Let’s jazz up this newsletter with a discussion about Charlie Parker aka Bird. (Well Bird for short…his proper nickname was Yardbird.)

Miles Davis once said, “You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker.”

Charlie (Bird) Parker was a jazz saxophonist born in 1920 who died in 1955 a combination of pneumonia and heart attack…well really ill health from a well lived life where he didn’t often make healthy choices. (“The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.” I dunno if it that’s true but it feels true considering the choices Bird made.)

As always every grave stone has that dash between birth and death dates that signifies a life and for Charlie Parker what a life.

“Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won't come out of your horn.” So says Charlie Parker.

If you don’t know Charlie Parker’s jazz music you may know Bird the Clint Eastwood movie from 1988; Parker was deftly played by Forest Whitaker.(The movie is a bit slow but otherwise is a solid biopic. I prefer a documentary over a biopic but considering Bird died in 1955 I doubt there is enough footage for a full length documentary.)

Anyways that dash between birth and death is depicted in Chasin’ the Bird: Charlie Parker in California a graphic novel by comic book creator Dave Chisholm. (The forward is written by the #GOAT Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who is a major jazz fan and yes reads and writes comic books.)

This “Bird’s Eye View” of Charlie Parker’s life and special contributions to jazz was commissioned by his estate to celebrate the centennial anniversary of his birth. It’s fascinating they commissioned a graphic novel; talk about novel for true.

What makes the graphic novel a captivating project is that in Clint’s movie you can see the jazz being performed…you can hear the jazz…the literal music. How do you present jazz a sonic medium in a static medium like a graphic novel?

Indeed Dave Chisholm succeeds and over the course of this attached My Summer Lair exchange he’ll reveal some of his artistic techniques and his approach to crafting Chasin’ the Bird.

The graphic novel is brimming with Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and many more talented humans from that era. It’s a solid comic highly recommended. I mean it is incredible: a hundred years after his birth Charlie Parker and his potent jazz work earned a graphic novel.

Crazy right?

And I get it; this all sounds weird; I get it.

This strange My Summer Lair episode has sort of been out of time; Charlie Parker died in 1955 and if you don’t actively listen to jazz I concede there is a “so what?” quality to this conversation/newsletter/episode.

Lemme address “so what?”

All known artists are mostly popular or relevant.

Popularity is easy...we all enjoy one hit wonders. But to be relevant...I’m using present tense…now that's difficult. To be popular AND relevant is rare but it happens. And that’s magic when it does.

That rare magic happened on the last day of 2017; December 31st Netflix released 2 Dave Chappelle comedy specials; one was called Equanimity and the other…was The Bird Revelation. Ah yes see where I am going with this?

This is my (modern) answer to the “so what?” question.You may not know Charlie Parker or heard his music but you know Dave Chappelle and you probably have seen his comedy special The Bird Revelation. It’s one of my favourite Chappelle specials.

The Bird Revelation opens with a Charlie Parker quote: “I came alive. I could fly.”

Charlie Parker’s nickname was Bird hence the title of the comedy special. Ah-Ha: thanks Captain Obvious. When I initially saw the title The Bird Revelation I didn’t make the connection but then when I saw the Charlie Parker quote I was like damn son...I know where you are going with this! I instantly made tea before pushing play and enjoying the comedy.

Bird is amazing...he’s a  jazz saxophonist I turned my Dad onto him a few years back. What made Bird so good at jazz was he: “invented his own line, his own melody, and orchestrated it within the ensemble so that he was in effect playing every instrument.” That's Stanley Crouch's writing...when I am trying to understand jazz I read Stanley Crouch (like most people.).Bird was an intellectual and a talented artist who charted his own path!

And similarly in this Netflix special Dave Chappelle is talking about freedom. Or as he put it living fearlessly:

“I empathize, man, you know. Everybody gets mad because I say these jokes, but you gotta understand that this is the best time to say them. More now than ever, and I know there’s some comedians in the back. Motherfucker, you have a responsibility to speak recklessly. Otherwise my kids may never know what reckless talk sounds like. The joys of being wrong. I didn’t come here to be right.”

Which is how Charlie Parker lived and which is how Charlie Parker created: fearlessly and with full freedom. The answer to “so what?” is freedom. Fly like a bird (if I can be so cheezy).More so creatively; Bird used his freedom to make terrible choices addicted to dope, dishonesty with the women in his life; gluttony...those ugly elements of his life are captured in Dave Chisholm’s graphic novel Chasin’ the Bird.

Yet Charlie Parker also used his freedom to make spectacular music. We’re still talking about him today.  All known artists are mostly popular or relevant. Right?

And like Dave Chappelle and Charlie Parker you have the same freedom...to create something out of nothing, to build and to tear down, to learn hard lessons from terrible choices and or to relish the joy of options.

Do more than just breathe in and breathe out...live your life and enjoy your freedom.

Go forth chasin...the bird because…

“Stories are what make humans special.” Dave Chisholm

Using my freedom to line up for the “early bird special” at Olive GardenSammy Younan-28-

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