By Michael Levin and John S. Wilson — 9/9/1949
An Online Exclusive
“Bop is no love-child of jazz,” says Charlie Parker. The creator of bop, in a series of interviews that took more than two weeks, told us he felt that “bop is something entirely separate and apart” from the older tradition; that it drew little from jazz, has no roots in it. The chubby little alto man, who has made himself an international music name in the last five years, added that bop, for the most part, had to be played by small bands.
“Gillespie’s playing has changed from being stuck in front of a big band. Anybody’s does. He’s a fine musician. The leopard coats and the wild hats are just another part of the managers’ routines to make him box office. The same thing happened a couple of years ago when they stuck his name on some tunes of mine to give him a better commercial reputation.”
