Charlie Parker (1920–1955), alto saxophonist “Bird,” co-founded bebop with Dizzy Gillespie. Lightning lines, chromatic harmonies and rhythmic daring reshaped jazz. Hear the Savoy/Dial classics—“Ko-Ko,” “Parker’s Mood,” “Now’s the Time,” “Ornithology”—and later Charlie Parker with Strings. He wrote “Confirmation” and “Yardbird Suite”; his small groups became the blueprint for modern jazz.