BIRD'S ABILITY TO PERCEIVE

Sculptor Julie Macdonald was taken with Bird and "the wonder about his ability to perceive." She and Bird met on his last trip to California, a year or so before he died. Macdonald is known for her extraordinary sculpture of Bird's head, a black and white photograph of which, incidentally, graced the cover of Downbeat in 1965, on the event of the 10th anniversary of Charlie Parker's death. The sculpture is made of sandstone, is almost twice the actual size of Bird's head, weighs 275 pounds and is attached to a polished black granite cube. It is said to capture the many conflicting and captivating traits of Bird's character and personality--the old man and young child, for example--and holds a resemblance to both Egyptian and African art. Macdonald's sculpture of Bird's head is in the collection of Robert George Reisner, who later wrote a biography of Bird that is comprised of interviews with 81 of Bird's closest friends.

Bird's last visit to California was interrupted by news of his three-year old daughter Pree's death. Initially, he reacted to the news by getting drunk on Alexander's. Then he got off heroin and alcohol, before returning east, to be there for his wife Chan through the ordeal of their loss. Many painful incidents in Bird's life were yet to come, but he was willing to put aside the drugs and make an effort to be the man his wife needed him to be in his last months.

For most of Bird's life, he was known as unreliable in all but his playing, a mooch par excellence. He never had enough money, food, cigarettes, booze or drugs. His appetites for all these and women too have been likened to those of Picasso. And yet he was a man who listened with his whole being, and was completely attuned to life. He once noted that if a person could hear every sound there was, he would go mad, which Parker did. He listened that intently to people, to everything.

Although Bird's life was tragic, some of the episodes that led to his being put away "in rehab" are humorous. For instance, once, while Bird was staying in a cheap hotel in L.A., he determined he had to make a phone call and went down to the lobby to use the phone. The manager behind the desk was horrified when he saw Bird, as he had no clothes on. Bird went back upstairs to remedy the problem and came down a short while later. He had put on a coat, but still had no pants on! Soon after that, he was sent to a police psychiatrist, then to Camarillo.

In 2010, musician/artist/performer Charles Wsir Johnson created a beautiful homage to Bird, using makeshift instruments, called "A Bird in Camarillo," about Bird's 1946-1947 visit to that hospital. Bird apparently wrote a short tune while in rehab there called, "Relaxing in Camarillo."

For most of Bird's life, and after it, people viewed Bird's erratic behavior as part of his nature instead of part of the diseases of alcoholism and drug addiction that afflicted him most of his life. Unfortunately, his addictions helped grow his myth. What remains indisputable is Bird's uncanny gift of music and his ability to perceive.

References: "Charlie Parker: A Genius Distilled," by Richard Williams, The Guardian, Mar. 21, 2010.
The Legend of Charlie Parker by Robert George Reisner, Da Capa Press, 1977.
"A Bird in Camarillo," by Charles Wsir Johnson, YouTube video.