Arts Editor Maya Campbell and Deputy Arts Editor Adam Kluge virtually attended WKCR’s Charlie Parker Centennial Festival celebrating the life and work of the jazz icon.

There is an unmistakable hum in the air when Charlie Parker first lifts his alto saxophone to his mouth, the notes suddenly broadcast through speakers that seem too small to contain the immediate allure of the jazz music. There is a stillness — an inviting, yet seductive, call. It is, in every way, the sort of music that seems to harken back to an era long since passed. An era of music, cultural celebration, and human expression that found its advent just blocks away from Columbia, in upper Harlem. Jazz, in its unique and beckoning form, wafting from the wires of WKCR. Charlie Parker, the saxophonist who ushered in a new era of the genre itself, existing at the center of the palpable, fleeting moment.

Charlie “Bird” Parker was a popular saxophonist and jazz composer who lived from 1920 to 1955. He is billed as the creator of bebop, the first style of modern jazz music distinguished by its fast tempo, unique chord changes, and emphasis on improvisation.

WKCR, Columbia’s campus radio, hosts a weekly show featuring the music of Charlie Parker called “Bird Flight” after his nickname in the jazz community.  WKCR’s jazz department director, Adrien Stein (CC ‘22) wanted the festival to be a departure from their regular programming saying, “there is a large and dedicated jazz audience that listens to WKCR outside of the Columbia Community. We wanted to make something by students, for students, and for people who aren’t experienced jazz listeners.”

The jazz community can sometimes be daunting to a newer listener and deter them from interacting with the music.  Stein continues, “the festival is a way to lower the barrier to Charlie Parker’s music and to jazz as a genre.” Over the course of a week of programming, WKCR crafted a festival that honored Bird’s legacy by providing the perfect mix of music and theory to bring jazz to a new audience.

The week began with WKCR’s annual 24-hour Lester Young birthday broadcast on August 27th. Lester Young was often referred to as “Prez” as he was regarded for being the “President of Jazz.” He was widely known for his modern improvised saxophone solos and was a main source of inspiration to Bird throughout his career.

Throughout the broadcast, hosts would take breaks every six to eight songs to discuss what to listen for in the music to come.  Host Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera went over who played each instrument and the different leadership in each piece before playing several selections that highlighted Lester Young’s career. He also took the time to point out specific sections of the music and describe how they were important to the overall piece and jazz music as a whole.

Directly following the Lester Young Birthday Broadcast was a day dedicated to pieces that featured both Prez and Bird. This day of programming was similar to the first with hosts adding in more anecdotes on the relationship between the two musicians and their work.

As soon as the Lester Young Birthday Broadcast had concluded, the echo of the music still resting upon listeners’ ears, WKCR transitioned into its main programming — the Charlie Parker Centennial Festival, a celebration of The Bird’s 100th birthday, which would feature just under a week of programming dedicated to the legacy of jazz music’s foremost saxophonist. 

The festival, which has been a staple of WKCR’s programming for the last 47 years, shared a conglomerate of live music and pre-recorded pieces and commentary from the birthday broadcast that aired in 2018, given the decreased operation of the radio station due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Primarily, the festival meant roughly six to ten pieces of jazz music featuring and/or arranged by Parker, followed by brief commentaries by hosts. From the initial performance, it became clear that the weight of the occasion itself is not to be underestimated. As stated by host Phil Schaap during the Saturday, August 29 programming, “So much news you hear today can be thrown away… it’s not important. This is.”

Charlie “Bird” Parker was an icon in every sense of the word; a trendsetter, who utilized his own talents in performance and arranging, as well as a lifelong friendship and sympatico collaboration with notable jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, to redefine the jazz genre and introduce bebop, a blues-based style of music that incorporates complex tempos and chord progressions, as well as an increased use of improvisation (an artist’s original interpretation of a melody, based on the harmonic progression of the song).  Often serving as the lead alto saxophone and arranger or co-arranger on the blues pieces he performed, Parker often based his involvement in jazz music on the understanding that an individual “cannot jump the blues away.” This artistic expertise is evident throughout his many recordings, which were broadcast almost in their entirety during the festival on WKCR.

Specifically, Parker’s style is notable through the clear use of a clean saxophone line — as Schaap said during the broadcast, there is a clean tone present, with Parker often accompanied by a larger big band orchestra or quintet of other jazz instrumentalists. Often, the arrangements played on WKCR featured Gillespie on lead trumpet, as Parker got his own start in the jazz world through performances with Gillespie-led ensembles that recorded through Guild Records. Parker was lesser-known during the Swing Era, as the two invented their own styles of music and redefined the existing culture of jazz, and it was through the artistic work of Gillespie that he truly found his place in jazz ensembles that played across the country. The collaborations between the two that aired during the WKCR festival included:

• “Grooving High”
• “All the Things You Are”
• “Dizzy Atmosphere”
• “Sure Enough”
• “Soul Peanuts”
• “Hot House”

Schaap spent a great deal of the broadcast likening the relationship between Parker and Gillespie to those that defined the larger era of jazz music, as well — including the infamous relationship between vocalist Billie Holiday and Lester Young. To conclude the celebration of Bird’s own music and influence on jazz, prior to the programming that would focus specifically on the enduring legacy of Charlie Parker, there was a day of almost continuous programming, which featured a mix of instrumental and orchestral pieces arranged by Bird. A large variety of these also showcased jazz vocalists, including Al Hibbler and Walter Brown. Characteristic of Parker’s own notable style, these works often included call and response between the many instruments involved, with Parker’s saxophone often absent on the bridge line. 

The festival also spent a great deal of time focusing on Parker’s collaborations with other jazz legends and styles, including a series of programming that documented his work in the blues. The pieces showcased in this segment included:

• “Lonely Boy Blues”
• “Get Me on Your Mind”
• “Sepian Bounce” (a favorite of the host that evening)
• “The Jumpin’ Blues” 

It is overwhelmingly evident through the vast discography of Parker’s work that was presented during the Centennial Festival on WKCR, especially when coupled with the response and celebration of the various hosts and disc jockeys who maintained the many hours of programming, that the legacy of Charlie “Bird” Parker transcends the Swing Era where the trumpeter first gained his start in jazz music. In order to celebrate this legacy on the genre, WKCR presented a 24-hour period of instrumental music influenced by Parker on September 3, titled Beyond Bird.

During this segment, which notably lacked the consistent host coverage that was interspersed throughout the Charlie Parker Centennial Festival, Charlie Parker’s continuing impact on the world of music, art, and poetry was interrogated from a musical lens, stressing the impact of the jazz saxophonist’s legacy.

The features that were present in the recordings of Parker were on full display throughout Beyond Bird, including:

• Solo improvisational lines on brass instruments and saxophone
• Instrumental underscoring, with soloists in traditional jazz or blues forms 
• Piano and drum sets often occupy the background – creating a certain melancholy tone, almost as though Bird’s legacy can be seen in the background
• Traditional jazz solos (improvisation) move between the instruments, with each respective member of the trios and quartets taking a certain set of bars and improvising over the melody

There were also a great deal of performances that focused on collaboration between a saxophonist and a trumpeter, which seemed to directly emulate the work between Parker and Gillespie that was so much the focus of the preceding week’s festival. Additionally, Parker’s influence could be felt in the use of work focusing on rhythmic sections of jazz.

Broadly speaking, and as stated on WKCR’s own site, “We are ecstatic to be commemorating 100 years of Bird with this fully loaded festival broadcast, and we look forward to listeners joining us in celebration of the legacy of one of Jazz’s absolute greats.” Through the Beyond Bird celebration, it is clear that it is this status as one of the greats that has secured Parker’s place in the history of the jazz genre itself.

WKCR has produced special broadcasts honoring Charlie Parker for more than a half a century. In 1981, Phil Schaap, who hosted the Charlie Parker Centennial Festival, inaugurated WKCR’s ongoing weekday broadcast Bird Flight, which concentrates on Parker’s recorded legacy and his life and times. While much of the week of programming was focused intently on simply broadcasting the majority of Parker’s discography, without a great deal of dialogue or commentary provided by the hosts or other Columbia affiliates, there was a great deal of history sewn into the larger fabric of the week. Through careful examination of the recordings played, Schaap and other hosts were able to speak to the professional and personal collaboration between Parker and Dizzy Gillespie; the advent of bebop through the use of stylized improvisation; the role of the orchestra and jazz vocalists in broadening the types of music that can be considered jazz; and, perhaps most importantly, the legacy of Charlie Parker.

In this respect, the WKCR broadcast, like the almost 50 years of Bird celebration that came before, was successful in educating eager jazz listeners or those brand new to the genre on a saxophonist who really did alter the entire scope of the musical style. While the broadcast did not provide a broad history on the short life of Bird (who died just short of his 34th birthday), it did unpack his seminal role in the development of the modern jazz style.

Even though much of WKCR’s work caters to loyal and consistent audiences, it is through festivals and celebrations of particular moments or artists in music that the station continues to foster a sense of theory, coupled with the obvious role of performance. Specifically, the Lester Young broadcast, the Charlie Parker Centennial Festival, and Beyond Bird each served to illuminate and amplify the genre of jazz, and its own connection to both Parker and the New York City community surrounding campus.

The personalized nature of the festival created a way for new listeners to interact with jazz in a way that is meaningful to them.  People had the ability to tune in every day of the festival or just a few hours when they had time.  WKCR knocked down any blocks to jazz that might have stopped new listeners. Department director Stein said it best, sharing, “jazz culture, in general, can feel exclusive and intimidating and we want to show that it doesn’t have to be. Jazz can be for everyone.”

Bird Lives! via WKCR -FM Facebook