... to "blowing matches". It is this artistically fruitful sense of competition that provided Charlie Parker with his look. Live music could be heard at all hours of the night, a situation resulting from lax application of prohibition laws. He first played baritone horn before switching to alto. Parker was so infatuated with the rich Kansas City music scene that he dropped out of school when he was 14 even though his musicianship at that point was questionable (with his ideas coming out faster than his fingers could play them). A premature appearance at the High Hat Club - when he dried up mid-solo on "Body & Soul" - led to him abandoning the instrument for three months; the humiliation was repeated in 1937 when veteran drummer Jo Jones threw a cymbal at his feet to indicate he was to leave the stage (this time Parker just went on practising harder). ...

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