Charlie Parker or ‘Bird’ as he was known was one of those musicians whose presence is still felt even though he’s been dead for over sixty years.

Young musicians of today who weren’t even born when he died – infact probably their parents weren’t even born – are playing his compositions plus music he was associated with.

The podcasts here contain that music played by contemporary musicians who show that they have a real love and feeling for music of a different age and they are making efforts to keep it alive in the 21st century.

Parker had little defence against the narcotics that were prevalent especially among the creative set but his ability to compose and play music that had ‘hooks’ that are memorable. They are complicated musically, but some are so easy to recognise and remember.

Sadly, money that he earned disappeared into the hands of the drug dealers and he did not benefit from his art. It was a regular occurrence for him to be without a saxophone because it had been pawned in exchange for drugs.