Friday, October 12, 2007

UAA - Jazz History - 1955 Memories


This is my nostalgia page tonight, because I just returned from this video and talk on Charlie Parker, part of the Jazz Series at the UAA Library. There was a big crowd for tonight's feature, which was a film on Bird. Not Clint Eastwood's, but good, nevertheless. I had to think back to 1955, when I was teaching elementary school in Kansas City. Also, I was engaged to a popular disk jockey there, so got to all the parties for visiting musicians and other celebrities. Charlie Parker was not one of them, as he was a big name in New York City by then. His remains were only brought back for his funeral, which was a traditional funeral for a former native. At that time, they did not allow black musicians to perform in the city, so there was a club half-way to Independence, MO that we attended often, and I remember seeing Billie Holliday, Jay McShann and many others there. My, how times change.
By the way, in my personal history, my girlfriend and I applied to teach in France and were quite excited to be hired by the Dept. of Defense to teach in the military school in Chateauroux. So I broke my engagement, and flew out of Kansas City forever. My girlfriend didn't, tho' . . . she married her sailor and lived happily ever after on Whidbey Island, WA.

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