Charlie Parker Essentials

Charlie Parker ripped through impossibly complex but ravishingly melodic solos, explored infectious rhythms of insane speed and intricacy, and played with a soulfulness that easily matched his virtuosity. Hitting the New York club scene as bebop first bubbled to life, the young saxophonist from Kansas City remade jazz into a personal journey, leading adventurous listeners off the dance floor and into the musical unknown. But while his intellectual-but-visceral improvisations remain exhilarating decades later, Parker also laid down inventively swinging grooves that still rocketed off from the launchpad of the blues ("A Night in Tunisia"), and bared his heart in ballads flush with both achingly tender emotion and utterly superhuman technique ("Parker's Mood”).