Description
An almost overwhelming influence from the 1940s onwards, Parker's brilliance has rarely if ever, been surpassed since his death in 1955. He came into prominence with the bands of Jay McShann, Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine. With Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis he made his greatest recordings. His outrageous private life tended to obscure his genius at the time, but in spite of of derision from the establishment critics, it shone through and his musical influence is felt more strongly today than it was even in his own lifetime.
