[1][2] Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop,[3] a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies.

[5] His father, a Pullman waiter and chef on the railways, was often required to travel for work, but provided some musical influence because he was a pianist, dancer, and singer on the Theatre Owners Booking Association circuit.

[6] Parker first went to a Catholic school and sang in its choir, but his parents separated in 1930 due to his father's alcoholism and the effects of the Great Depression.

Parker's biggest influence in his early teens was a young trombone player named Robert Simpson, who taught him the basics of improvisation.

[9] Parker withdrew from high school in December 1935, joined the local musicians' union, and decided to pursue his musical career full-time.

[10] Upon leaving high school, Parker began to play with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City and often ambitiously took part in jam sessions with more experienced musicians.

[19] Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in the summer of 1937, where he spent a great deal of time woodshedding and developing his sound.

[22] His first gig with the band was during the summer or early fall at the Continental Club in Kansas City, where Parker worked as a substitute alto saxophonist for Edward "Popeye" Hale.

Playing "Cherokee" in a practice session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet, he realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.

The younger Parker then spent the summer in McShann's band playing at Fairyland Park for all-white audiences; trumpet player Bernard Anderson introduced him to Dizzy Gillespie.

Fellow musicians at the venues included developing beboppers Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke.

A pianist and one of the pioneers of bebop, Mary Lou Williams, offered a further explanation that the after-hours sessions were an opportunity "to challenge the practice of downtown musicians coming uptown and 'stealing' the music.

However, this band's performances and therefore Parker's role in them are virtually undocumented due to the strike of 1942–1944 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few professional recordings were made.

In fact, much of bebop's critical early development was not captured for posterity due to the ban and the new genre gained limited radio exposure as a result.

Parker left Hines' band and formed a small group with Gillespie, pianist Al Haig, bassist Curley Russell, and drummer Stan Levey.

This new format enabled soloists to be freed from harmonic and rhythmic restrictions, and in late 1944 the group secured a gig at the Three Deuces club in New York.

Musicians at other clubs came to hear bebop and reacted negatively to it because, according to bassist Charles Mingus, they saw it as a threat to their existing style of jazz.

[35]It was not until 1945, after the AFM's recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world.

[44] Following the establishment of a regular quintet, Parker signed for Mercury Records with Jazz at the Philharmonic promoter Norman Granz as his producer.

On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians.

[46] Six master takes from this session became the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You".

[49] The concert happened at the same time as a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so the musical event was poorly attended.

[49] Since 1950, Parker had been living in New York City with his common-law wife, Chan Berg, the mother of his son, Baird (1952–2014),[52] and his daughter, Pree (who died at age 3).

[45] The death of Parker's daughter Pree from pneumonia in 1954 devastated him and, after being fired from Birdland in September of that year, he attempted to commit suicide.

[45] Parker's last gig on March 4 at Birdland ended when Powell refused to play in his group and the performance spiraled into an argument among the musicians.

The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had advanced cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack and a seizure.

[56] Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements,[57] which included a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church[56] and a memorial concert.

[58] Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road.

The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material.

[citation needed] From 1950 to 1954, Parker lived with Chan Berg on the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan's East Village.