The story behind puzzle No. 28
Charlie Parker · Single · Savoy · 1945
Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and grew up across the state line in Kansas City, Missouri. Now's the Time shows it: a simple, bluesy riff from one of bebop's founders.
Parker recorded Now's the Time for Savoy on November 26, 1945, with a band billed as Charlie Parker's Reboppers. Miles Davis, then 19, played trumpet. Max Roach was on drums and Curley Russell on bass. The piano was played by Dizzy Gillespie or Sadik Hakim, depending on the take.
Parker sometimes set aside his most complex ideas and went back to his Kansas City roots for simpler blues tunes, and this is one. The riff later turned up in The Hucklebuck, a 1949 hit for saxophonist Paul Williams. It was credited to someone else, and Parker got nothing for it.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Play Moten Swing, puzzle No. 22, to hear the Kansas City sound Parker grew up on.
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