
Kansas City Lightning
The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Kenerly
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Written by:
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Stanley Crouch
About this listen
Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker is the first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost authorities on jazz and culture in America.
Throughout his life, Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: A revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at the age of thirty-four. Drawing on interviews with peers, collaborators, and family members, Kansas City Lightning re-creates Parker's Depression-era childhood; his early days navigating the Kansas City nightlife, inspired by lions like Lester Young and Count Basie; and on to New York, where he began to transcend the music he had mastered. Crouch reveals an ambitious young man torn between music and drugs, between his domineering mother and his impressionable young wife, whose teenage romance with Charlie lies at the bittersweet heart of this story.
With the wisdom of a jazz scholar, the cultural insights of an acclaimed social critic, and the narrative skill of a literary novelist, Stanley Crouch illuminates this American master as never before.
©2013 Stanley Crouch (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.What listeners say about Kansas City Lightning
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Jeff Skrypek
- 2017-11-03
In-depth review of Jazz scene in Kansas City
Overall the book gave a good review of the Jazz scene in Kansas City, however I was really looking for a book more about Charlie Parker and so was a bit disappointed when the story straight away from him for large chunks. I probably should have known this was going to happen given the title but was still hoping for more of a bird biography than what I got. overall still a really interesting read on the Jazz scene in Kansas City and cover some of the lesser-known players so you might not have heard of.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Robert Bruce
- 2017-10-20
Unconventional biography that charms
Don't expect a straightforward, carefully sourced, impeccably factual treatment of the life of Charlie Parker. Stanley Crouch approaches his subject more like a novelist or a rambling story-teller than a biographer. He chooses to immerse us in Parker's world - taking long explanatory detours to introduce us to the places, historical background and people that influenced Parker - as a way of explaining who Parker was and how he came to be that person. If you can suspend judgement and let Crouch tell the story that way, you'll be mesmerized. Crouch's perspective is distinctly African-American, which is a good corrective to previous treatments of Parker that failed to highlight the importance of his cultural background. Don't expect a complete treatment of Charlie Parker's life either - this covers only his early years. Kevin Kenerly's narration gives Crouch an ideal voice. This is a work ideally suited for an audiobook. You will want to pause the recording frequently to listen to some of the music described, and a copy of the recording "Charlie Parker – Bird In Time 1940-1947" is a must for an accompaniment. The book comes full circle as the finale harkens back to the introduction, and you won't be able to resist a second listen.
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