nice twilight touch

Heading from downtown Kansas City back to Independence at dusk, my musician father had the classy idea to make a quick visit to Charlie Parker’s grave. There is no gate on Lincoln Cemetery, so we had it to ourselves.

I was last at the gravesite in 1994, taken there by my jazz guitarist uncle Brian. Since then the trees have grown unrecognizably taller.

Bird is buried next to his mother Addie.

Here’s a great video of Charlie Parker (sax) and Buddy Rich (drums), from 1950. I’ve posted this once before, but it’s worth showing it again.