August 29
Xenophanes of Colophon (Quote)
![Xenophanes of Colophon (Quote)](https://ffrf.org/wp-content/uploads/1980/08/eae98e71755cb67a4024b9e3869d502f.jpg)
© Freedom From Religion Foundation. All rights reserved.āThe Ethiopians say that their gods are snub-nosed and black, the Thracians that theirs have light blue eyes and red hair.ā
āGreek philosopher Xenophanes (c. 570-475 BCE), cited by James A. Haught, ed., "2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt" (1996)
Charlie Parker
![Charlie Parker](https://ffrf.org/wp-content/uploads/1980/08/d27db942ff4da8c95559092cc00b7e15.jpg)
On this date in 1920, American jazz soloist, saxophonist and composer Charles Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City. Parker was known by the nickname āYardbirdā or, alternatively, āBird,ā and many of his best-known compositions ā āOrnithology,ā āBird Gets the Worm,ā āBird of Paradiseā ā contain references to this moniker. A virtuosic improviser, Parkerās work was crucial to the development of bebop, an uptempo and harmonic style of jazz. A student of classical music and an admirer of composer Igor Stravinsky, Parker was an advocate for jazz musicians of the Beat Generation.
Parkerās addiction to heroin, which he developed as a teen after he was given morphine for an auto accident, plagued him all his life. Parkerās collaborations with pianist Thelonious Monk, drummer Kenny Clarke and guitarist Charlie Christian are often cited as major developments in the New York City jazz scene. Parkerās music displayed a mastery of the jazz technique known as ācontrafact,ā wherein the musician imposes his or her own original melodies over existing jazz standards.
After his death in New York at age 34, Parkerās body was flown back to Missouri to respect his motherās wishes. He received a Christian funeral, which Chan Berg, his common-law wife and mother of his two children, lamented due to Parkerās lifelong atheism. His daughter had died at age 3 the year before. The official causes of Parker’s death were lobar pneumonia, a bleeding ulcer, advanced cirrhosis and a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated his age at between 50 and 60. (D. 1955)
PHOTO: Parker in 1947. Public domain photo (cropped) by William Gottlieb
“A confirmed atheist, he had not been inside a church in years.”
ā Biographer Ross Russell in "Bird Lives!: The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker" (1973)