JAM: October/November 2005 Issue: Hampton's Hot Licks

Hampton 's Hot Licks

August 8th, I found out that the British were coming! The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was in the process of developing a documentary on the life of Charlie “Bird” Parker. They were going to spend several days in New York City filming old Bird haunts and interviewing people who had known him. Their next stop was back to their homeland for the Brecon Jazz Festival, which was held August 11-13 and featured a tribute to Charlie Parker. The plan was for the BBC team to arrive in Kansas City sometime during the last week of August.

The BBC team's actual arrival date was not cast in stone yet, Their producer, Tony Followell, and I started quite a volley of emails discussing the dates and timing of their itinerary while in town. They had planned to spend considerable time with Chuck Haddix and Parker's family members. They were planning to visit the American Jazz Museum , the Mutual Musician's Foundation, a house that Bird had lived in, and Bird's grave site.

It appeared that they would be visiting Bird's gravesite close to his birthday which is August 29th. I had several visions of their end product edited film when I realized this. On a number of visits to Bird's gravesite, I have found it pretty messy and not well kept. It was not unusual to find a few empty whiskey bottles and beer cans laying around. Sometimes the stone was dirty and at least partly covered with leaves. This along with a tenor sax on the grave of the world's greatest alto player sent up red flags and cold chills down my spine. Something had to be done.

An old tradition in the Kansas City area was for Eddie Baker (Charlie Parker Foundation) to have a 21-sax salute at Bird's gravesite on (or about) his birthday. Eddie passed away a few years ago so I knew that the traditional event probably would not take place. Even if it did, there would most likely not be 21 sax players there and they would not be there when the BBC arrived. After a few calls and emails, I was almost certain that there was no grave site “service” planned for this year.

I suggested to Tony that we try to get something going if he could lock in on a specific time for them to arrive in Lincoln Cemetery . Over the next week the BBC schedule changed several times. Finally, on August 18th, we cast the date and time in stone for a grave site celebration on Sunday, August 28th at 1:30 p.m.

I was not about to call this a 21-sax salute for several reasons. First, I had no idea whether or not I could round up 21 willing sax player to show up at that exact time. Next, because that name had always been Eddie's event, I wanted to respect his “ownership” of the title. Finally, I felt that this year's event should be a Kansas City jazz community celebration for more than just sax players. It was long over due for us to celebrate the most famous jazz artist in our history. This year's event was special. It would have been Bird's 85th Birthday and it was the 50th anniversary of his death.

I had already composed a “call for musicians” to be emailed to about 100 people on my list. Most were active musicians or had other relevant ties to the jazz community. As soon as Tony and I agreed on the time, the email was on the way.

Little did I know that this planning was really for a much larger event. Within a few minutes after sending the call for musicians, I received a call from Chuck Haddix. He had excitement in his voice when he told me, “Dean, you've got to see if you can get some musicians to play at Bird's grave site at 1:30 on Sunday - the 28th! Some of Bird's family will be there and they want there to be music.” It seemed like an omen. The spirit of Bird must have been in the air. For the first time in many years or forever, the family was planning a reunion.

Musicians' response to the call was tremendous. My email inbox was flooded and my phone was ringing off the wall for several days. One reply is worth noting. It came from KC native and guitarist for the Count Basie Orchestra, Will Matthews, who had just played in the Brecon Jazz Festival while the BBC crew, was there. Matthews wrote, “It is sad that KC does not have any kind of celebration, jazz festival, night club or anything with Charlie Parker's name on it. Other cities in the country and abroad have all of these things, and it's really embarrassing when people ask how KC celebrates Charlie Parker and I have to answer with ‘we don't."

I began to think that Lincoln Cemetery just might not be big enough to hold all of the people who had expressed an interest in attending. This “worry” became more pronounced when I received a Google News report about the event. It came from a Russian news agency and contained a good part of my original email to musicians. The next day, JazzPolice.com plagiarized the same article with the headline, “BBC to honor Charlie Parker during Kansas City visit.”

We purposely did not notify the local press until Saturday before the celebration. Thanks to Carrie Stapleton for doing a super job on that. The KC Jazz Ambassadors' Board of Directors agreed to host the event for the following year and they sent a beautiful spread of flowers. Coda Jazz Fund did the same. It became even more international when flowers arrived from the Charlie Parker Society of Japan, the Japanese Charlie Parker Fan Club, and KCJA sponsor member from Tokyo, Yoko Takemura.

Leon Brady and his KC Youth Jazz Band arrived on the scene ready to provide plenty of music. Best of all, we actually did have more than 21 sax players on the scene as well as other instrumentalist. One of the real treats was when “Dirty Force” arrived. Their real name is “The Top of the Bottoms Social Aid Pleasure Club Benevolent Society Dirty Force Brass Knuckle Street Band Soul Review.” They are kind of a New Orleans marching jazz band that wears funny costumes that make you feel the spirit of the time. After all sax players played, Dirty Force came marching in and led a parade around the area, stopping in front of the gravestone. They led us all in singing Happy Birthday to Bird, and then all musicians followed them out playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

The hour-long event was attended by around 250 Parker fans and musicians. There were about 30 Parker family members among the crowd, seated in a covered area provided by the management of Lincoln Cemetery.

I would like to express a HUGE thank you to all who participated in any way, even if by just a phone call or an email. There were some rough days in the early planning of this and many of you came forward supporting the celebration.

Mark your calendars for late August 2006. We will do this again next year. We may even add a yardbird dinner to the celebration.






	Search our site:		Hampton 's Hot Licks August 8th, I found out that the British were coming! The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was in the process of developing a documentary on the life of Charlie “Bird” Parker. They were going to spend several days in New York City filming old Bird haunts and interviewing people who had known him. Their next stop was back to their homeland for the Brecon Jazz Festival, which was held August 11-13 and featured a tribute to Charlie Parker. The plan was for the BBC team to arrive in Kansas City sometime during the last week of August. The BBC team's actual arrival date was not cast in stone yet, Their producer, Tony Followell, and I started quite a volley of emails discussing the dates and timing of their itinerary while in town. They had planned to spend considerable time with Chuck Haddix and Parker's family members. They were planning to visit the American Jazz Museum , the Mutual Musician's Foundation, a house that Bird had lived in, and Bird's grave site. It appeared that they would be visiting Bird's gravesite close to his birthday which is August 29th. I had several visions of their end product edited film when I realized this. On a number of visits to Bird's gravesite, I have found it pretty messy and not well kept. It was not unusual to find a few empty whiskey bottles and beer cans laying around. Sometimes the stone was dirty and at least partly covered with leaves. This along with a tenor sax on the grave of the world's greatest alto player sent up red flags and cold chills down my spine. Something had to be done. An old tradition in the Kansas City area was for Eddie Baker (Charlie Parker Foundation) to have a 21-sax salute at Bird's gravesite on (or about) his birthday. Eddie passed away a few years ago so I knew that the traditional event probably would not take place. Even if it did, there would most likely not be 21 sax players there and they would not be there when the BBC arrived. After a few calls and emails, I was almost certain that there was no grave site “service” planned for this year. I suggested to Tony that we try to get something going if he could lock in on a specific time for them to arrive in Lincoln Cemetery . Over the next week the BBC schedule changed several times. Finally, on August 18th, we cast the date and time in stone for a grave site celebration on Sunday, August 28th at 1:30 p.m. I was not about to call this a 21-sax salute for several reasons. First, I had no idea whether or not I could round up 21 willing sax player to show up at that exact time. Next, because that name had always been Eddie's event, I wanted to respect his “ownership” of the title. Finally, I felt that this year's event should be a Kansas City jazz community celebration for more than just sax players. It was long over due for us to celebrate the most famous jazz artist in our history. This year's event was special. It would have been Bird's 85th Birthday and it was the 50th anniversary of his death. I had already composed a “call for musicians” to be emailed to about 100 people on my list. Most were active musicians or had other relevant ties to the jazz community. As soon as Tony and I agreed on the time, the email was on the way. Little did I know that this planning was really for a much larger event. Within a few minutes after sending the call for musicians, I received a call from Chuck Haddix. He had excitement in his voice when he told me, “Dean, you've got to see if you can get some musicians to play at Bird's grave site at 1:30 on Sunday - the 28th! Some of Bird's family will be there and they want there to be music.” It seemed like an omen. The spirit of Bird must have been in the air. For the first time in many years or forever, the family was planning a reunion. Musicians' response to the call was tremendous. My email inbox was flooded and my phone was ringing off the wall for several days. One reply is worth noting. It came from KC native and guitarist for the Count Basie Orchestra, Will Matthews, who had just played in the Brecon Jazz Festival while the BBC crew, was there. Matthews wrote, “It is sad that KC does not have any kind of celebration, jazz festival, night club or anything with Charlie Parker's name on it. Other cities in the country and abroad have all of these things, and it's really embarrassing when people ask how KC celebrates Charlie Parker and I have to answer with ‘we don't." I began to think that Lincoln Cemetery just might not be big enough to hold all of the people who had expressed an interest in attending. This “worry” became more pronounced when I received a Google News report about the event. It came from a Russian news agency and contained a good part of my original email to musicians. The next day, JazzPolice.com plagiarized the same article with the headline, “BBC to honor Charlie Parker during Kansas City visit.” We purposely did not notify the local press until Saturday before the celebration. Thanks to Carrie Stapleton for doing a super job on that. The KC Jazz Ambassadors' Board of Directors agreed to host the event for the following year and they sent a beautiful spread of flowers. Coda Jazz Fund did the same. It became even more international when flowers arrived from the Charlie Parker Society of Japan, the Japanese Charlie Parker Fan Club, and KCJA sponsor member from Tokyo, Yoko Takemura. Leon Brady and his KC Youth Jazz Band arrived on the scene ready to provide plenty of music. Best of all, we actually did have more than 21 sax players on the scene as well as other instrumentalist. One of the real treats was when “Dirty Force” arrived. Their real name is “The Top of the Bottoms Social Aid Pleasure Club Benevolent Society Dirty Force Brass Knuckle Street Band Soul Review.” They are kind of a New Orleans marching jazz band that wears funny costumes that make you feel the spirit of the time. After all sax players played, Dirty Force came marching in and led a parade around the area, stopping in front of the gravestone. They led us all in singing Happy Birthday to Bird, and then all musicians followed them out playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The hour-long event was attended by around 250 Parker fans and musicians. There were about 30 Parker family members among the crowd, seated in a covered area provided by the management of Lincoln Cemetery. I would like to express a HUGE thank you to all who participated in any way, even if by just a phone call or an email. There were some rough days in the early planning of this and many of you came forward supporting the celebration. Mark your calendars for late August 2006. We will do this again next year. We may even add a yardbird dinner to the celebration. RETURN TO OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2005 MAIN INDEX © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2005. All rights reserved.