Celebrating Charlie Parker's 105th Birthday and His Perfomance of "Fine and Dandy"
Executive Summary
This article celebrates the 105th birthday of jazz legend Charlie Parker on August 29, 2025, by highlighting his iconic performance of "Fine and Dandy" with Joe Timer's Orchestra. The performance took place on February 22, 1953, at the Club Kavakos in Washington, D.C., and is notable for Parker's masterful and creative solo. Parker's enduring legacy is rooted in his intense focus and precision, which allowed him to create spontaneous, logical, and beautiful music that was far ahead of its time. Parker's profound contribution to jazz ensures that his music will be studied for centuries to come.
Keywords: Charlie Parker, Jazz, Bebop, Alto Saxophone, Fine and Dandy, Joe Timer's Orchestra, The Washington Concerts, Club Kavakos, Washington D.C., February 22 1953, Musical Genius, Improvisation, Jazz History
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Today is Friday, August 29th, 2025, a day that would have been Charlie Parker's 105th birthday. Parker's great gift to the universe was his absolutely beautiful and incredibly creative style of playing the alto saxophone. No one played exactly like him before him, and no one has played like him since then.
On Sunday, February 22nd, 1953, Charles Parker Jr., with his ever-present alto saxophone, sat in with Joe Timer's Orchestra, a popular jazz ensemble that performed in Washington, D.C. This particular concert took place at the Club Kavakos, a popular jazz club that was located at 727 H Street NE in the heart of Washington, D.C.
Drummer and arranger Joe Timer led the band which was active during the early 1950s. The band disbanded when Timer passed away prematurely in 1955. Luckily for the global jazz community, Parker's performances with the band over three nights, October 18, 1952, and February 21st and 22nd, 1953, were recorded and preserved for posterity.
In this article, I'm going to focus on my favorite song from the concerts: Fine and Dandy. The arrangement started with a gorgeous introduction by the entire big band that lasts 49 seconds. At precisely 49 seconds in, Parker takes flight and begins an incredibly beautiful and incredibly original and creative solo infused with his seemingly limitless musical vocabulary.
At his heart, Charlie Parker was a saxophone poet who coaxed imaginative stories out of his instrument, a skill that he mastered through many thousands of hours of focus, repetition and practice. The song is relatively short, about 3 minutes and 22 seconds, but Parker and his music colleagues had a lot to say in that short period of time.
105 years after Parker's birth, how could we summarize his contribution to the American art form known as jazz? Parker's playing, in my opinion, was extremely focused, and this focus is what made his music sound so perfect and so logical. He was focused on one thing: finding the most beautiful and engaging thing to play in the moment in direct response to whatever his mates on the bandstand were playing. He played with such incredible precision because he was only focused on that one thing, where most people divide their attention among many things while trying to complete a task.
It is that extreme focus, precision and beauty that allowed Parker to be so far ahead of his time, so much so that with 100% certainty, his music will still be carefully studied and digested many centuries from now. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article!
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Celebrating Charlie Parker's 105th Birthday
+-- Subject: Charlie "Bird" Parker
| |-- Jazz Legend & Alto Saxophonist
| |-- Unique & Creative Style
| +-- "Saxophone Poet"
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+-- Featured Performance: "Fine and Dandy"
| |-- Date: February 22, 1953
| |-- Venue: Club Kavakos, Washington D.C.
| |-- Collaboration: Joe Timer's Orchestra
| | +-- Note: One of three nights recorded
| +-- Song Analysis
| |-- Structure: 49s big band intro
| +-- Highlight: Parker's masterful, vocabulary-rich solo
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+-- Enduring Legacy
|-- Core Trait: Extreme Focus & Precision
| +-- Method: Responded beautifully in the moment
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+-- Impact
|-- Result: Music is logical & perfect
|-- Significance: Ahead of his time
+-- Prediction: Will be studied for centuries
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