Today is Charlie Parker's 98th birthday. Okay, he only lived to 34, but it's worth remembering this great American original.
The story of Parker's last day on earth is part of jazz legend. On the evening of March 12, 1955, on a rainy night in New York, he knocked on the door of his dear friend and supporter, the Baroness de Koeningswater, telling her he felt ill. She saw how bad he looked, and said she would make him some tea and call a doctor. She emerged from the kitchen five minutes later with a pot of tea to find him dead on her couch.
He was a great genius and soaring talent who changed the face of modern music, but frittered away his life searching for dope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJYO6_t4d08