Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

By: Khayyam Saleem



Charles Christopher Parker JR. was born on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. His ethnicity was black. His parents’ names were Charles and Addie Parker. When Charlie was still a young boy, his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where jazz, blues, and gospel music were prosperous.

In 1931, at the age of eleven, he learned how to play the saxophone. At the age of fifteen, Charlie Parker showed an enormous amount of concentration in playing the alto saxophone. Soon, Charlie Parker was playing in local bands until 1935, when he left his school to pursue a musical career.

From 1935 through 1939, Parker worked in Kansas City with several local jazz and blues bands, from which he had improved his playing of the alto saxophone since he had taught himself how to play. In 1936, Charlie married Rebecca Ruffin. When they had married, Rebecca Ruffin was only sixteen years old. She had been shy for a week before their marriage. In the time of 1938, Charlie Parker joined the band of pianist Jay McShann, whom he took on a tour of Southwest Chicago and New York. Here, he got his nick name Yardbird. There are two stories. Charlie Parker was free as a bird. He is also called Yardbird because while he was touring with Jay McShann, they accidentally ran over a chicken (a yardbird) and Charlie Yardbird Parker insisted they should stop and pick it up so Charlie could have his landlady cook it for him, and they did.

A year later, Parker traveled to Chicago and was a regular performer at a club on fifty-Fifth Street. Charlie Parker soon moved to New York. He washed dishes at a local food place where he met Biddy Fleet, the man who taught Charlie Parker about instrumental harmony. Shortly afterwards, Charlie Parker returned to Kansas City, Missouri to attend his father’s funeral. Once Charlie reached Kansas City, he joined Harlan Leonard’s Rockets and stayed for five months. In 1939, Charlie visited New York, and he stayed there for nearly a year, working as a professional musician and often participating in jam sessions. The New York atmosphere greatly influenced Charles Christopher Parker JR’s harmonious technique.

Then, 1939, Charlie Parker reunited Jay McShann’s pop group. In 1940, Jay McShann made Charlie in charge of the reed section in his band. Throughout the two couples of years Parker stayed in the midst of the McShann band, he got to do many solos including the 1941 hit Confessing the Blues. In 1942, while Charlie was on an expedition with Jay McShann, Charlie Parker performed in jam sessions at a place called MONROE’S & MINTON’S PLAYHOUSE in Harlem. There Charlie got the attention of up-and-coming jazz artists Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. In 1943 he married Geraldine Scott. Then, in 1945, Charlie Parker broke with Jay McShann and joined Earl Hines for eight months.


The year 1945 was extremely important for Charlie Parker. During that time he led his own group in New York and also worked with Dizzy Gillespie in quite a lot of ensembles. In December, Charlie and Dizzy Gillespie took their music to Hollywood on a six-week long nightclub tour. Charlie Parker continued to work in Las Angeles until June 1946, when he suffered a nervous breakdown and was confined at a state hospital. After his release in 1947, Charlie Parker returned to New York and formed a quintet that performed some of his most eminent tunes.



From 1947 to 1951, Charlie Parker worked in a quantity of nightclubs, radio studios, and other venues performing solo or with the accompaniment of other musicians. In 1948, Charlie married Doris Sayder. This was his third wife. The he had divorced 3 times in his life. His last wife before he died was Chan Richardson, whom he married in 1950. He had five children. Also in 1947 through 1951, he visited Europe where he was cheered by devoted fans and did numerous recordings. March fifth, nineteen-fifty-five, was Charlie Parker’s last public engagement at Birdland, a nightclub in New York named in Parker’s honor.


Charles Christopher Parker Jr. died on March 12, 1955 in New York. It happened in a friend’s apartment. He died at the young age of thirty-five because of pneumonia. He was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Kansas City Missouri.
Charles "Yardbird" Parker was an amazing saxophonist who gained wide recognition for his brilliant solos and innovative improvisations. He was, without a doubt, one of the most influential and talented musicians in jazz history.



Bibliography

For more in formation, please visit the following links:

http://www.nndb.com/people/676/000026598/ Charlie Parker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://www.cmgworldwide.com/music/parker

Van Gogh

“Please, sir is this Plumbfield” asked the ragged boy of the man who opened the great gate at which the rural community left him. “Yes. Who sent you?” “Mr. Lawrence. I have got a letter for the lady.” “All right; go up to the house and give it to her; she’ll see to you, little chap.” The ragged boy had many names. Nat, John, Dilapidated, Darkness, K’nid, but what he had been called since his infant age was Tinku Winku. People could not understand it. Tinku Winku could not understand why people could not call him by his other names, but that was a mystery. The lady was very old, but very wealthy as well. That is the reason he had come, to take her wealth when she had died. As he went upstairs, he thought about whether the lady would agree or not. When he had reached her room he began to feel very nervous. When he opened the door, he saw an old woman lying down in a bed surrounded by drapes. She had been looking at an old photograph book. “This is for you.” he said squeakily as he gave her the envelope. After 4 or 5 minutes, she began to speak. She had said yes. “I firmly agree your family is responsible enough to handle the power of my wealth.” she croaked. The housekeeper downstairs will give you all the money I have except the money I need for my funeral.” she said. As Tinku Winku walked down the stairs, he felt a wave of stimulation wash over him. He would have the riches of the most moneyed woman in the United States. When he reached the egress of the house, the housekeeper took me to a vault. In the mausoleum, there was tens of thousands of piles of money. “Every day, we will send you one hundred piles of money in a box. When you have all the money, we will send you a letter informing you that you have got all the money with the last box.” he said in a dull voice. “Here is your first box.” he said, dumping a hefty box into Nat’s hands. He dropped himself on top of the floor for the reason that of the credence the box had. He got back onto his feet and heaved the box onto his back. He would be called Dilapidated no more. Now with his new wealth, he could buy better clothing. As years went by, Nat got richer & richer because of his new job. At the age of one hundred eight, Nat gave his wealth to my parents. One year later, Nat passed away. We bought a mansion in Creaksville with the money. Soon after our entire luggage was transported to the mansion, I was born. At the age of eight, I learned the way to get anywhere in the mansion. One night, I had woken up and decided a walk would get me tired again and then I could sleep. I walked out through the main door and stood outside fore a moment. I decided on where to go. The tallest place in town was Creaky Hill. I would climb up to the top and gaze at the stars for a while. I edged forward toward the enormous hill. One hand shot out and greeted the first ledge with a hard slap. I began to climb. It was a long way to the top of Creaky Hill. It was a starry night with spinning stars and cart wheeling clouds. The jagged edges of the hill kept me hanging for dear life. Sixteen minutes later, I had arrived at the top of the hill. By then it had reached ten o’ clock pm. For a while, I looked at the grease colored night sky. It was breezy. I stood up and reached for the stars. I felt like wind flowing around the atmosphere, touching the stars. I started to sit down once more when my eyes caught a glimpse of my watch. Because of the darkness, I could not see the time. “Nature’s clock will help me” I thought. I looked at the moon and saw how far away it was from the pinnacle. “Oh my god” I said to myself. It was about 11:50. My heart raced. I looked around the tip of the hill for anything I could slide down the side of the hill with. The diminutive houses below looked like the size of new born ants from up above. While I was looking over the hill, I did not become aware of my watch slipping off of my wrist. Then I saw a bright blue light drop out of mid-air. I noticed it immediately as my watch. I snatched one of the thrash can lids that were lying on the hilltop and jumped off the periphery of the hill. I burst down at the speed of light. Tiny portions of the trash can lid chipped off. Before I knew it, the trash can lid became a tattered semi-circle. I knew I could not stay on the lid forever, so I hopped off of the lid and fell across my backside onto the soft grass. My back felt very uncomfortable. The lid landed onto my fingers. That felt bad too. I peered over the lid that suppressed my fingers. A flashing, blurry, blue light was plummeting out of the sky. It was my watch. I tried to duck behind the lid but I was too late. The watch fell in to my mouth. I sputtered it out. I spit many times before stopping. So that is what metal tastes like. I picked up the watch. The battery went out when the watch dropped into my mouth. I burst home. Who knew what time it could be? Luckily, everyone was asleep. It was 12:27. I walked upstairs. “Thank God the steps did not creak” I thought. I tip-toed inaudibly toward my bed and lay down on it. I opened the closet beside the bed and a blanket made out of felt dropped out. I slipped out of my shoes. My arm went up to grip the handle of the closet to close it when I remembered it closed without human intervention. I spread the blanket across the single bed and snuggled myself beneath it. My back had invigorated again. My fingers had rejuvenated too. I twisted and turned and then finally closed my eyes. Suddenly, a loud yell screamed in my right ear. It was my mother. “WHERE WERE YOU??!!!” she boomed. “Uh-oh” I whispered. “I WANT AN ANSWER OUT OF YOU, YOUNG MAN” she screamed. I thought the neighbors had woken up by now. I shrugged into the corner of my bed. “NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she screamed louder. Now I definitely knew the neighbors were on their way to the door of our mansion, but no sound was made. I slipped off of my bed. My head had hit the table beside my bed. I rubbed it painstakingly, but the area throbbed. Short grumbling noises came from down stairs at the back door. I opened my mouth to begin explaining what had happened when a loud ring echoed through the mansion. I was probably the neighbors coming to complain. “You stay here while I check who it is.” my mom said. As she went down the stairs, my headache continued from the time it hit the table. “Maybe, while mother is at the door, I could hastily take hold of an ice cube from the refrigerator” I thought. I moved at a snail’s velocity in the direction of the staircase. Leisurely, I slithered down the steps, listening close for any creaks. I was also listening for any sign of my mother coming back upstairs to listen to why I had been gone so long. I have been on familiar terms with the ultimate step of the stair case. It had a hole in it, it creaked, and it got me in trouble a various amount of times. I hopped over it, hoping my landing would not make an earsplitting dull sound. When my feet had stroked the carpet, I thought I heard a loud noise but I had not. I had landed soothingly. To get to the kitchen in my house, you had to go north two yards and fourteen and six sixteenths inches from the bottom of the staircase to the carpeting of the living room. From that very spot, take a right turn and keep walking straight along the access strips until you reach two large double doors. Take the one on the left. That will take you to the largest bathroom in the whole mansion. Beside the six foot bathtub, across from the seventeen toilets, you will see sixteen closets. Open the ninth closet and rummage through the clothes. In the back you will see a small card slot. In the eleventh closet, you will see a size twelve OLD NAVY t-shirt. It is colored mahogany. There are four pockets. There are two on the front and two on the back. In the back pocket that is to the right, you will find a card. It will say “SAFE NINE ACCESS CARD”. Bring it back to the ninth closet and slip it through the card slot. Then, pull the handle and inside you will find the card and a silver certificate one dollar bill. Slip the dollar through the slot underneath the dollar. Take your hands out of the safe. The bottom of the safe will turn into a keyboard and the wall of the safe that is directly in front of you will turn into a monitor. Type in the password! “MANSION OF SIX.” Then the keyboard and monitor will flip back into the walls of the safe. The roof of the safe will open and two keys will fall out. Hard work! Huh! Take the keys into the fourteenth closet. Inside, there will be a large, yellow ladder. Climb to the top, and on the roof of that closet, there will be another safe with a lock on it. I don’t know how she gets down so quick. The code is 11-16-8. Open it and there will be another safe inside it. How do we afford such tight security??!! Put in any of the keys into the keyhole. Inside that safe, a small piece of paper will fall out. It will have a thumbprint on it. Take the thumbprint to the first closet. There will be nothing in it. Close the door with yourself inside the closet. After that is done, drop the thumbprint onto the substructure of the closet. Do not worry if you fall as if there was no floor there. The floor will turn into a hologram and you are supposed to fall. You will land in a laundry chute. This is the fun part. WWWWHHHHEEEEEE!!!!! You will land in a basketful of dirty laundry. The stains on the clothes might rub off and rest on yours, so do not stay in the basket for long. If you look behind yourself, you will grab a sight of one hundred twelve dryers. Snuggle yourself inside of the ninety-seventh dryer and pull the lever on the roof of the dryer. Close your eyes because you will go at light speed and zip throughout the whole mansion. At last after four minutes in the dryer, you may crawl out and meet the inconceivable kitchen entrance. Let us continue our story. When I had reached the kitchen, the refrigerator was only a few yards away. As I crept toward it, I could not help overhearing what my mother was saying at the door. “I am very sorry for all the noise, Mrs. Langtozablimaniogla.” my mom pleaded. She walked back into the kitchen. “You got lucky this time.” she said grudgingly. “YAY!” I said. “But you are going to have to face the consequences tomorrow.” my mother spoke softly. “Oh, no” I said to myself. I went back upstairs with the freezing ice cube resting on the backside of my head. Its cold temperature had healed by the time I had reached my bed. I placed the cube of ice on the table adjacent to my bed. I watched it melt into its liquid state as I pulled my blanket on top of myself. A few seconds later, it melted completely. Tiny droplets of cold water dropped of my bedside table and onto the warm rug beneath. Soon all the water was gone and captivated in the enormous, navy blue rug. I was asleep by the time that happened. Finally morning had come after eight long hours of rest and sleep. I yawned and shut off my alarm clock. I still had not noticed the wet rug. As I came off of my bed and out of my four poster bed room, some of the water on the rug rubbed onto the sole of my foot. When I reached the first step of the staircase that is when a various amount of awful things happened. I slipped and fell head first to the stairs. Then that incident made me slide down the stairs at a tremendous speed, my chin crashing into every single stair on the staircase. Then at last, something good happened. My arm sank into the darkness of the hole made in the ultimate step. For once, I was glad the horrible step of the staircase was there. I tried to pull it back up, but the sleeve of my sweater had caught on a water pipe. The hole in the ultimate stair had no space left for another arm to pull my right arm back out. I cried for help. My mother arrived at the bottom of the staircase looking a tiny bit sleepy and very disappointed. “We have got to fix that stair step.” she muttered. She left for a moment and came back with a hammer. She threw the hammer at the stair step to make another hole. She placed her hand in the interior of the hole and unhooked the sleeve of my sweater from the water pipe. I took my hand out of the hole and thanked my mother for getting it out. “Good morning” I greeted. My mother did not reply. I got to the kitchen in an hour. Today I wanted to eat cereal. I poured some milk in a bowl and grabbed some APPLE JACKS to add. I put it in the microwave for forty seconds. The spoons were on the breakfast table. Then my mom finally came in the kitchen and asked me why I had been gone so long. It took me quite a while to explain. Four hours to be exact. “So that is why I had been gone so long” I concluded. “You are grounded for seventeen months” my mother said. “WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed

Spined Pygmy Shark

Can you perceive in your mind’s eye a shark as big as your table knife with teeth as jagged as your table knife? Well, if you can, this is the name of it: the Spined Pygmy Shark. The Spined Pygmy Shark likes to devour squid, shrimp, and mid-water fish like lantern fish. It gets those foods by interrupting in a school of fish and swallowing them whole. It gets its water from its habitat. It gets air by using the air that runs through the water. It lives in a warm climate. It gets the shelter it needs by staying in deep depths. It lives in deep waters down to 6,550 feet deep. On the other hand, it hunts in mid-waters. It is related to the Dogfish Shark. The Spined Pygmy is rarely seen by divers because it lives so deep. It is harmless to humans. Spined Pygmy Sharks are just seven to eight inches long. The shade of the Spined Pygmy Shark is dark gray to black with ashen tipped fins. It has a bulbous snout. The Pygmy Shark’s belly radiances in the dark. This may serve as camouflage for it to avoid being eaten by its enemies. It eliminates shadows when it is seen from beneath it.
It has a spine in front of its first dorsal fin, nevertheless not the subsequent dorsal fin. The Spined Pygmy Shark can be found in stifling oceans and moderate oceans. The Spined Pygmy Shark is very rare, and very glistening. The upper teeth are constricted and diminutive. The subordinate teeth and higher teeth are knife like. The smooth teeth are located in rows that rotate into use as needed. The first two rows are used in obtaining prey; the other rows rotate into place when they are needed to cut the sharks prey. As teeth are lost, broken or worn down, new teeth rotate into their innovative places. There is an extra, round of gills in the wake of each eye. This is also known as a spiracle. It is for the most part most negligible shark in the world. The Spined Pygmy Shark is not on the endangered species list because it lives so deep. Not many other species can eat it there. The Spined Pygmy Sharks’ reproductive biology is unknown. So is its life span. It is classified as the following: Kingdom= animaliaPhylum= chordataSubPhylum= VertebrataClass= ChondrichthyesSubClass= ElasmobranchiiOrder= SqualiformesFamily= SqualidaeGenus= SqualiolusSpecies= Laticaudus
I chose this animal to write about because when I first started researching it, I knew I would learn a lot of new stuff because they used the word “luminescent” at the beginning. The thing that interests me about the “Seven-inch Spined Pygmy Shark” is that the website in the bibliography below told me that this shark has a glow-in-the-dark stomach. I also read that it is one of the smallest sharks in the world. Now you have to admit, that is pretty cool.
Bibliography
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/sharks/species/Spinedpygmy.shtml