A doctor, summoned once to examine him, asked him if he ever drank.
“Sometimes,” Parker replied, “I have sherry before dinner.”
A fine appreciation of Charlie Parker, 50 years after his death (via ArtsJournal).
The influence of Charlie Parker has been so all-pervading that it’s hard to imagine music without it; his influence has reached places where it would scarcely be suspected. Michael Jackson, the altoist Charles McPherson once pointed out to me, is affected “whether he knows it or not” – because his arranger, Quincy Jones, is a Parker follower. Like some trace element in the atmosphere, Parker’s sound is almost everywhere and, for the same reason, virtually invisible.
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