This opera explores the legacy of a revolutionary musician who left a big imprint on Indy

A moment between life and death is the entry point to Charlie Parker's story in the opera "Yardbird." He's the saxophonist who helped build the revolutionary, nonconforming mid-20th-century style called bebop. And he's the man whose creativity left indelible fingerprints on Indianapolis, especially through iconic Circle City musicians.

But as the opera's plot goes, Bird, as he's known, questions whether his life's work is enough. As his 34-year-old body, wracked by the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, lies unclaimed in a New York morgue, he's composing an orchestral masterpiece. Interrupting the process are memories of Bird's past relationships — with his mother, his wives, his friends.

Indianapolis Opera will produce the Hoosier state premiere of "Yardbird" on March 16 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center — not far from where he performed at least twice when he played Indianapolis in the 1940s.

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"It's very tragic but it's triumphant as well," said Angela Brown, who originated the role of Parker's mother and has performed it several times since.

"And in the end, Bird lives."

Meeting Bird through the women in his life

The women in Bird's life tell much of the story across 90 minutes in "Yardbird." After he dies in 1955 in Baroness Nica De Koenigswarter's hotel suite, he enters New York City's famed Birdland club to compose his last masterpiece. While there, he's visited by his mother, Addie Parker, and wives Rebecca Parker, Doris Parker and Chan Parker.

The words that express these singular perspectives came from the pen of librettist Bridgette Wimberly, who worked with composer Daniel Schnyder on "Yardbird," which premiered at Opera Philadelphia in 2015.

"The story, the libretto, was written by a Black woman," said Brown, the internationally renowned soprano from Indianapolis. "So it not only has the voice of a Black person telling the story but of a female that took the time to flesh out and research the different women in his life."

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From Addie, the audience sees a loving mother who celebrates her son's triumphs, covers some of his wrongdoing and cares for his wife Rebecca and their son after he left, Brown said.

A scene with Doris reveals a window to Bird's anxieties about racism and how the world will see his contributions, said tenor Martin Bakari, who has performed the role several times since his "Yardbird" debut in 2018.

He "explains to her that music is his world and it's everything that he is, but what happens to someone like me when I pass away if everything I was, was music? And if I dedicated my life to music, what do I become if no one cares about this music that I make?" Bakari said.

Bird's music, of course, would be so innovative and so influential that it would become magnetic for audiences the world over — including Indianapolis.

Charlie Parker's historic reverberations in Indianapolis

Bird not only delivered iconic solos, he helped birth bebop in after-hours jams with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and other icons in the 1940s. In a move away from big band swing, the new style combined virtuosic improvisation, fast tempos, harmonies with new and altered chord progressions, and complex rhythms.

"It was a movement unlike anything that had unfolded in American popular culture before," said Kyle Long, the producer-host of WFYI's "Cultural Manifesto" and producer of "Echoes of Indiana Avenue."

"It's the roots of a lot of our counter-culture. (Beat Generation writers) Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg come out of this movement and influence the hippies and punk rock. ... In the '90s, post-bop, hard bop jazz recordings are the foundation of hip-hop sampling."

Bird and his bebop caught on in Indianapolis as well. By Long's count, the saxophonist played the Circle City three times that have been documented — twice at the famed Sunset Terrace and once at the Murat Theatre. The shows also connect Indianapolis icons to the jazz legend.

A gathering place for national talent, the Sunset stood not far from the Madam Walker Theatre on Indiana Avenue. In March 1942, Bird performed there with Jay McShann's orchestra, Long said. That same month, Crispus Attucks High School alum Jimmy Coe, a saxophonist and arranger, officially joined the ensemble, according to the Indianapolis Recorder.

Bird returned to Indianapolis twice in 1948, including a solo appearance at the Sunset in January. In April of the same year, Bird played the Murat with Sarah Vaughan and Dexter Gordon.

During an Indianapolis stop, drummer Willis Kirk, who attended Crispus Attucks and Butler University, ended up sitting in with the famous saxophonist after a train carrying Bird's colleague Max Roach arrived late, Long said.

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And Bird's impact spread quickly. Crispus Attucks alum J. J. Johnson configured the challenging bebop style for the trombone, Long said, cementing a pioneering legacy. Circle City musicians put their own stamp on bebop as well with the 1948 launch of the Bebop Society of Indianapolis — the same year Bird played the Circle City twice.

"You can kind of see the reverberations of his appearance here manifesting through that," Long said.

Singers perform the highs and lows of the music and Bird's legacy

The cast of "Yardbird" is carrying those reverberations to the next generation. The score combines operatic singing and jazz with quotes from tunes by Bird and Thelonious Monk, Bakari said. Fast, florid, bebop-influenced exchanges prove challenging for vocalists, and they have to execute a style that Brown describes as a nasal-adjacent, forward sound of the horn that's so central to the story.

"If you can imagine being on a rollercoaster, if the car does not stay in contact with the track, it flies off," Brown said. "So, the voice has to definitely stay in contact with the breath all the way down and all the way up. And it's like playing a saxophone."

"Yardbird" offers key roles for talented Black singers to tell Black stories, Brown said. Especially important is the perspective of a Black woman as librettist, which has been rare across the art form overall, said Bakari, who splits time between New York and Seattle.

"There were such extreme highs and lows in Charlie Parker's life emotionally, that having to portray that on the stage also is very, very taxing," Bakari said. "Everything about the role is really exhausting but it's also very fulfilling because you reach the end and you go, 'Wow, I can't believe I did that.' And then also you feel like you've been able to contribute to this man's legacy, which for people like me who admire him deeply, makes the fulfillment even greater."

If you go

What: 'Charlie Parker's Yardbird' by Indianapolis Opera. Sung in English.

When and where: 7 p.m. March 16 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center, 617 Indiana Ave.

Tickets and more information: $39-$92. indyopera.org/yardbird.html

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Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy Opera tells the story of Charlie Parker's triumphs and tragedies