Copies of the book will be available for purchase and a book signing will follow the discussion.
Haddix’s in-depth look into the life of Charlie Parker reveals the man behind the music.
The biography includes first-hand accounts from the people who knew him and information from new sources.
Illustrated with several never-before-seen images, Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker focuses not only on Parker’s music, but also the story of his life, including his struggles with addiction and mental health.
Chuck Haddix is the director of the Marr Sound Archives, a collection of 340,000 historic sound recordings housed in the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri--Kansas City.
Haddix hosts the “Fish Fry” a popular radio program featuring the finest in blues, soul, rhythm and blues, jumpin’ jive and zydeco on kcur.org FM 89.3, Kansas City’s public radio station. Over the years, Haddix has contributed to a wide variety of theatrical, recording, video and film projects.
His articles have appeared in Down Beat and Living Blues Magazine. In 2005, he coauthored, with Frank Driggs, a history of Kansas City jazz, Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop–A History for Oxford University Press.
His biography of Charlie Parker, Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, was published in September by the University of Illinois Press.
Kansas City, Kansas Public Library is hosting Chuck Haddix as part of Bop in the Dotte, a celebration of Kansas City jazz and culture.
Library branches will be hosting special jazz themed programs, including book clubs, book signings, movies, food tastings, and concerts.
For a complete calendar of the programs, visit www.kckpl.org.
