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Artist
Dennis Stock, 24 Jul 1928 - 18 Jan 2010
Sitter
Charlie Parker, 29 Aug 1920 - 12 Mar 1955
Date
1950
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 34.1 × 26.4 cm (13 7/16 × 10 3/8")
Sheet: 35.4 × 27.8 cm (13 15/16 × 10 15/16")
Mat: 55.9 × 40.7 cm (22 × 16")
Topic
Interior
Equipment\Smoking Implements\Cigarette
Music\Musical instrument\Saxophone
Nature & Environment\Smoke
Charlie Parker: Male
Charlie Parker: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Composer
Charlie Parker: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Horn player\Saxophonist
Charlie Parker: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Jazz musician
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker was a pioneer of mid-twentieth-century jazz and later the bebop movement. Even as a youngster Parker devoted many hours daily to practicing the saxophone and participated in jam sessions in Kansas City, Missouri’s, popular nightclubs along Twelfth Street. By 1935 he had become a full-time musician and started developing an improvisational style that was instrumental in transforming jazz. Parker’s deconstruction of traditional melodies allowed him to accelerate and lengthen the individual lines of his solos. His musical experimentation and mastery made him a sought-after performer across the United States and Europe, including France, Spain, and Sweden.
Photojournalist Dennis Stock captured this portrait of Parker during a 1950 jam session. The photograph was published in Stock’s Jazz Street (1960), five years after Parker succumbed to the effects of drug and alcohol abuse at the age of thirty-four.
Nacido en Kansas City, Kansas
El saxofonista Charlie “Bird” Parker fue un pionero del jazz y luego del bebop a mediados del siglo XX. Siendo aún adolescente, dedicaba largas horas al saxofón y participaba en sesiones de improvisación (jams) en los populares clubes nocturnos de la Calle 12 en Kansas City, Missouri. Hacia 1935 ya era músico a tiempo completo y empezó a desarrollar un estilo de improvisación que resultaría crucial para la transformación del jazz. Deconstruyendo las melodías tradicionales, lograba acelerar y extender las líneas de sus solos. Su espíritu experimental y maestría musical lo convirtieron en figura cotizada en Estados Unidos y en Europa, sobre todo Francia, España y Suecia.
El fotoperiodista Dennis Stock captó este retrato de Parker durante una sesión de jam en 1950. Stock publicó la foto en su libro Jazz Street (1960) cinco años después que Parker sucumbiera a los efectos de las drogas y el alcohol, con solo treinta y cuatro años de edad.
