| Dying at the age of thirty-five is not much of an | | | | Definitive is a word defined as classic or ultimate and |
| achievement. Unless, the person in question was an | | | | that is the true of The Definitive CD. It has a sampler |
| aspiring musician during an era when most of the jazz | | | | of six songs recorded during the early to late |
| greats already existed and he hung around trying to | | | | nineteen-forties. The first track Sepian Bounce takes |
| create a unique sound as well as build a following of | | | | the listener back to the fun days of bebop, swing |
| listeners. After all, a musicial instrument is nothing more | | | | dancing, zoot suits and flashy ladies in clunky shoes. |
| than a translator of a sound coming from the artist's | | | | The second, Salt Peanuts, the third, Hot House and the |
| soul that vibrates through a listeners ear. Charlie Parker | | | | fourth, Ko-Ko are tracks Charlie recorded with Dizzy |
| had mastered the alto sax well enough to appear on | | | | Gillespie and they are more for late night listening when |
| the same stage as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis and | | | | the mood needs something soothing drifting through |
| with Jay McShann and his Orchestra. Of course, he | | | | the ear. The fifth track, Anthropology, Charlie recorded |
| did not live long enoughto reach his full musicial | | | | with Miles Davis when Miles was just getting started at |
| potential. | | | | the age of nineteen. The last track, Now's The Time |
| By the time his life ended in nineteen fifty- five, future | | | | was Charlie at his best. After all, a legendary artist |
| fans were still lying in cribs, toddling around in diapers or | | | | does not plod along in the same way as the mere |
| attending pre-school until later they too joined the | | | | mortals. He hovers above them while at the same |
| legions already worshipping at the altar of Charlie. | | | | time he lifts them straight out of their bootstraps. |