Documentary: Bird in K.C.

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kan., in 1920. When he was 7, his family moved to Kansas City, Mo. In fifth grade, Parker began playing the saxophone in school after the city put in force a music-education program. As he progressed, his mother bought him an alto saxophone in a pawn shop for $40. At the time, vice thrived in Kansas City. Despite Prohibition, the city's mayor and bosses allowed virtually everything that was illegal elsewhere to be plentiful and available at the many bars and clubs lining the streets. Where there's vice there's music, and dozens of bands found work in the city's dance halls and touring, regionally. As a result, there was abundant work to go around for dance-band musicians. At 15, Parker joined The 10 Chords of Rhythm and he was on his way to becoming a revolutionary alto saxophonist and a co-founder of bebop and post-war jazz.

Here's a terrific documentary from Kansas City PBS called Bird—Not Out of No Charlie Parker's Kansas City Legacy. By the way, on the film's opening song from 1947, that's pianist Duke Jordan's pensive intro to Out of Nowhere...