This is one of about 15 rhyming biographies I wrote.15 poems, 15 jazz greats.

Welcome to the Birdhouse



Charlie Parker
The saxophone
wouldn't leave him alone
It demanded to be blown
What's the word?
ThunderBIRD
Sexing the sax
Helping our minds to relax
The crowd caught up in his spell
because he played the sax so well
Charlie Parker joined a marching band as a baritone
Not long after, he took up the saxophone
Did his thing
with the deans of swing
He toured New York and Chicago
pleasing many with his alto
He moved to Chicago and performed at 55th Street
Everybody who heard him thought he played real sweet
He moved to New York so he could hear Art Tatum every night
He dug his music and thought it sounded tight
I take time to mention in my prose
the hits of Charlie Parker like 'Honeysuckle Rose'
The famous clubs he played like Minton's Playhouse and Munroe's
He had quite a career
with a sound so rare
He recorded with Dizzy Gillespie 'Dizzy Atmosphere'
Miles Davis on trumpet
Duke Jordan on piano
Tommy Potter on bass
Max Roach on drums while he worked that alto
Spend an evening at home with the Bird
Check out the Bird you never heard

The Bird at the High Hat
What you know about that?
The Bird is free
Won't you play for me?
While I hum you a little melody
and take time with this symphony
Let me get a box of those Bird Wings
and Charlie Parker plus strings
The Bird flies high
'cos he ain't shy
You know what we need?
Some Bird seed
There's a Bird in the yard
and he can blow that sax hard
Born Year of the Monkey
He sounded real funky
He learnt instrumental harmony from guitarist Biddy fleet
helping him to make his sax sound so sweet
His skill with the sax earned him quite a bit of praise
His musical education was behind clubs and bars in alleyways
He had a musical style many considered bold
He started playing the sax when he was 12 years old
A co-founder of bebop with Dizzy Gillespie
His 12 bar solo a landmark in jazz history
Grooving High
Sho' Nuff
Salt Peanuts
Hothouse
Welcome to the Birdhouse