Everlasting Sounds: Charlie Parker’s Musical Legacy in our Neighborhoods
Each August for the past 34 years, Tompkins Square Park has filled with the sounds of sax solos, scatting, and smooth melodies.
Held annually since 1993, close to Charlie Parker’s August 29 birthday, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival brings together jazz veterans and newcomers for a three-day celebration of all things jazz. Honoring the late East Village resident and musical legend, the festival is free and open to the public, with performances taking place in two of Parker’s old stomping grounds: the East Village and Harlem.
On Sunday, August 30th, day three of the festival will take place in Tompkins Square Park, where artists including Ravi Coltrane (the saxophonist son of John and Alice Coltrane) keep the spirit of our neighborhood’s jazz roots alive. You can learn more about the upcoming festival here.
Charlie Parker, also known as “Bird” or “Yardbird,” was an alto saxophonist and towering figure in American jazz who was credited with popularizing the “bop” or “bebop” style of jazz in the 1940s. At the height of his success, Parker and his wife, dancer and jazz enthusiast Chan Richardson, moved to the ground floor of 151 Avenue B, just across the street from Tompkins Square Park.
This building is an unusual example of a rowhouse in the Gothic Revival style, built circa 1849. The couple had two children while at this apartment: their daughter Pree in 1951, and son Baird in 1952. Parker’s time here was a stark departure from the itinerant lifestyle he had led during the preceding years.
Richardson describes this period in their life as one of stability and maturity, saying: “(Charlie) had entered this phase of domestic stability and his children brought much joy to him. He dug Sunday’s best of all. I would cook a roast, and my mother, brother Jimmy, and Aunt Janet would come for Sunday dinner. It was all very middle class, except for our table, which we had made in the form of a G, or treble, clef. The indentation was the perfect spot for a high chair”
Jazz photographer and Parker fan Judy Rhodes purchased 151 Avenue B in 1979 and worked to upkeep and preserve the building. Her dedication to the history of the building led to the addition of the building to both NYC and national historic landmark lists, as well as the renaming of the block after Parker in 1992.
To learn more about the incredible jazz history of our neighborhoods, explore our Jazz Map. To learn about the history of every building in the East Village, head over to our East Village Building Blocks website.