PARKER, CHARLES CHRISTOPHER (CHARLIE
, BIRD
, YARDBIRD
). ( in Kansas City, Missouri; in New York, New York). His father was a professional entertainer. He obtained his musical education at Lincoln High School in Kansas City, where he came under the tutelage of
Alonzo Lewis
, who succeeded
N. Clark Smith
as bandmaster at Lincoln. He played baritone horn in the school band and saxophone in a jazz group called the Deans of Swing. Outside of school he listened...