Chan Parker

Chan Parker ( as Beverly Dolores Berg, born 1925 in New York; † September 9, 1999 in Etampes, France) was the widow of American jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker and Phil Woods and writer.

Life and work

Chan Parker (also Chan Richardson was called before her marriage ) had Jewish ancestors and was in great musician milieu. Her father was the producer of vaudeville shows; her mother was a dancer in Florenz Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic revue and cloakroom attendant at the Cotton Club. Later she had a house in the lived many bop musicians. At 18, Chan Parker was a big jazz fan and learned so know the 23 -year-old Charlie "Bird" Parker, who was at the height of his career. Chan brought a daughter, Kim, into the marriage, according to the Parker should designate a composition later. They had two children, son and daughter Pree Baird, who died early, which was a tragedy for Parker and led to the fact that they both lived apart.

After Charlie Parker's death in 1955, she later married - strongly influenced by Parker - saxophonist Phil Woods. As of 1959, the two lived primarily in France. For the jazz culture Chan Parker is primarily characterized by their memory books of great importance; in their books To Bird with Love (1981, with Francis Paudras ) and her autobiography, My Life in E Flat (1999) describes, inter alia, their struggle against the self-destruction of her husband by the drug and alcohol addiction and the racial prejudices with which the couple was confronted. In the published 1987 Belgian documentary Bird Now it comes in interviews to speak. Chan Parker also worked with Clint Eastwood in preparing you for his film " Bird" (1988). Her role in the film is played by Diane Venora.