Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, widely consideredone of the greatest and most influential jazz musicians. Early in his career Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" there are many contradictory stories of the name's origin [LINK: http://www.birdlives.co.uk/content/view/12/14] [1]. The shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's nickname for the rest of his life, and inspiredtitles of many Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite" and "Ornithology". Place in jazz history Jazz historians consider Parker one of the greatest jazz musicians, along with other pioneers such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Jazz critic Scott Yanow stated that "Parker was arguably the greatest saxophonist of all time."[LINK: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:83ri287r052a~T1] [2] Parker