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{{Short description|Jazz enthusiast and common-law wife of saxophonist Charlie Parker (1925–1999)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Chan Woods
| name = Chan Woods
| birth_name = Beverly Delores Berg
| birth_name = Beverly Dolores Berg<ref>[http://www.birdlives.co.uk/content/view/7/9/ Chan Parker] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710234320/http://www.birdlives.co.uk/content/view/7/9|date=10 July 2007}}</ref>
| image = Chan Parker.jpg
| image = Chan Parker.jpg
| caption =
| caption =
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| death_date = 9 September 1999 (aged 74)
| death_date = 9 September 1999 (aged 74)
| death_place = [[Étampes]], France
| death_place = [[Étampes]], France
| spouse = [[Charlie Parker]]; [[Phil Woods]]}}
| spouse = [[Charlie Parker]]; [[Phil Woods]]
|children = 5}}


{{more citations needed|date=February 2018}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2018}}


'''Chan Woods''' (born '''Beverly Dolores Berg''', also known as '''Chan Richardson'''; 29 June 1925 – 9 September 1999<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/record/6488983-chan-woods |website=fold3 by Ancestry |title=Index record for Chan Woods Social Security Death Index |accessdate=12 November 2018}}</ref>), well known as '''Chan Parker''', was a common-law wife of [[jazz]] musician [[Charlie Parker]]; she later married musician [[Phil Woods]].
'''Chan Woods''' (born '''Beverly Delores Berg''',<ref>{{cite web |title=Chan Parker |url=https://www.birdlives.co.uk/chan-parker |website=Bird Lives: The Life of Charlie Parker, Jr. |publisher=birdlives.co.uk |access-date=8 December 2021}}</ref> also known as '''Chan Richardson'''; 29 June 1925 – 9 September 1999),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/record/6488983-chan-woods |website=fold3 by Ancestry |title=Index record for Chan Woods Social Security Death Index |accessdate=12 November 2018}}</ref> was a common-law wife of [[jazz]] musician [[Charlie Parker]]. She later married musician [[Phil Woods]].


She was born in New York City. She was a dancer and jazz enthusiast who in the 1940s and early 1950s was romantically connected with jazz musicians [[Johnny Bothwell]] and later [[Don Lanphere]].<ref name="jazztimes">Siders, Harvey. [http://jazztimes.com/articles/20018-don-lanphere "Don Lanphere"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306080750/http://jazztimes.com/articles/20018-don-lanphere |date=2016-03-06 }}, ''[[JazzTimes]]'', March 2002; accessed 4 June 2015.</ref>
She was born in New York City to an inter-religious couple; her father, a producer of [[vaudeville]] shows, was Jewish, while her mother, a dancer in [[Florenz Ziegfeld]]'s Midnight Frolic, was not. Adopting the name "Chan Richardson," Parker became a nightclub dancer.<ref>{{cite web |title=My Life in E-Flat: Chan Parker |url=https://uscpress.com/My-Life-in-E-flat |website=University of South Carolina Press |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> An early jazz enthusiast, she was romantically connected in the 1940s and early 1950s with jazz musicians [[Johnny Bothwell]] and later [[Don Lanphere]].<ref name="jazztimes">Siders, Harvey. [http://jazztimes.com/articles/20018-don-lanphere "Don Lanphere"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306080750/http://jazztimes.com/articles/20018-don-lanphere |date=2016-03-06 }}, ''[[JazzTimes]]'', March 2002; accessed 4 June 2015.</ref>


Chan met Charlie Parker in the 1940s, but their friendship was not romantic until around 1950. Chan and Charlie lived together in a [[common law marriage| common law relationship]] on [[New York's Lower East Side]] for the last five years of Charlie's life, from 1950 to 1955. However, Charlie had not formally terminated a prior marriage. Chan already had one child, her daughter Kim, at the time they established their household; together, Chan and Charlie had two more children, Baird and Pree. Although they never legally wed, Chan took Charlie's surname, as did all the children. Their relationship was dealt a severe blow with the 1953 death of their 2-1/2 year old daughter, Pree, from [[pneumonia]] related to a congenital heart defect.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burns |first1=Ken |title=Featured Video: Risk |time=1:41 |url=https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/jazz/ |website=Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref>
She met Parker in the 1940s, but their friendship did not become romantic until years later. As it developed, their relationship had to surmount several obstacles, including Charlie's drug and alcohol abuse as well as the interracial nature of their relationship at a time when American society was still largely segregated.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}


==Later years and death==
==Later years and death==
Their relationship was dealt a severe blow with the death of their daughter, Pree, a year and a week before Charlie Parker's own death.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/jazz/about/pdfs/Parker.pdf PBS interview]</ref>
Charlie Parker died just a year and a week after their daughter, in 1955, not long before he would have turned 35.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/jazz/about/pdfs/Parker.pdf A PBS interview of Parker for the documentary ''Jazz'']</ref>
Two years after Parker's death in 1955, Chan married saxophonist Phil Woods and moved to France, where she spent much of the rest of her life. From this marriage, they had a daughter, Aimée Francesca Woods (1961-1993). In her later years, she wrote the memoir ''My Life in E-Flat'',<ref>Parker, Chan. ''My Life in E-flat'', University of South Carolina Press, 1999. {{ISBN|1-57003-245-9}}</ref> which discusses her life with Charlie Parker. It was published in 1999, the year of her death, which occurred in Étampes, France.
Two years after Parker's death, Chan married saxophonist Phil Woods and moved to France, where she spent much of the rest of her life. She had another daughter from his marriage, Aimée Francesca Woods (1961-1993). In 1981, Chan helped write and edit a book of photographs of Charlie Parker titled ''To Bird with Love''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Chan |last2=Paudras |first2=Francis |title=To Bird with love |date=1981 |publisher=WIZLOV |isbn=978-2903577001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ratliff |first1=Ben |title=Francis Paudras, 62, Patron of Jazz Pianist Bud Powell |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/17/arts/francis-paudras-62-patron-of-jazz-pianist-bud-powell.html |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=New York Times |date=17 December 1997}}</ref> and later wrote the autobiographical memoir ''My Life in E-Flat''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Chan |title=My Life in E-Flat |date=1999 |publisher=Univ. of South Carolina Press |isbn=1-57003-245-9}}</ref> The second book was published in 1999, the year of her death from cancer, aged 74, in [[Étampes]], France.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/nyregion/chan-parker-74-known-as-jazzman-s-wife.html|title=Chan Parker, 74, Known as Jazzman's Wife|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 September 1999}}</ref>


Just before her death, Chan was interviewed by [[Ken Burns]], and she was seen posthumously in Burns' 2001 documentary ''[[Jazz (documentary)|Jazz]]''.
Just before her death, Chan was interviewed by [[Ken Burns]], and she is seen posthumously in Episode 8 of Burns' 2001 documentary ''[[Jazz (documentary)|Jazz]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burns |first1=Ken |title=Featured Video: Risk |time=1:41−1:44 |url=https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/jazz/ |website=Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref>


She is the mother of jazz vocalist Kim Parker.<ref>https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kim-parker-mn0000084207</ref>
Chan Parker was the mother of jazz vocalist Kim Parker (b 1947).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |title=Kim Parker |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kim-parker-mn0000084207 |website=AllMusic |publisher=Netaktion LLC |access-date=9 December 2021}}</ref> Chan and Charlie's son Baird lived until 2014.<ref>[http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20140330_Charles_Baird_Parker__61__son_of_jazz_great.html Charles Baird Parker 61 Son of Jazz Great]. ''[[Philly.com]]''. Retrieved June 29, 2016.</ref>


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 16:19, 1 July 2024

Chan Woods
BornBeverly Delores Berg
29 June 1925
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died9 September 1999 (aged 74)
Étampes, France
SpouseCharlie Parker; Phil Woods
Children5

Chan Woods (born Beverly Delores Berg,[1] also known as Chan Richardson; 29 June 1925 – 9 September 1999),[2] was a common-law wife of jazz musician Charlie Parker. She later married musician Phil Woods.

She was born in New York City to an inter-religious couple; her father, a producer of vaudeville shows, was Jewish, while her mother, a dancer in Florenz Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, was not. Adopting the name "Chan Richardson," Parker became a nightclub dancer.[3] An early jazz enthusiast, she was romantically connected in the 1940s and early 1950s with jazz musicians Johnny Bothwell and later Don Lanphere.[4]

Chan met Charlie Parker in the 1940s, but their friendship was not romantic until around 1950. Chan and Charlie lived together in a common law relationship on New York's Lower East Side for the last five years of Charlie's life, from 1950 to 1955. However, Charlie had not formally terminated a prior marriage. Chan already had one child, her daughter Kim, at the time they established their household; together, Chan and Charlie had two more children, Baird and Pree. Although they never legally wed, Chan took Charlie's surname, as did all the children. Their relationship was dealt a severe blow with the 1953 death of their 2-1/2 year old daughter, Pree, from pneumonia related to a congenital heart defect.[5]

Later years and death

[edit]

Charlie Parker died just a year and a week after their daughter, in 1955, not long before he would have turned 35.[6] Two years after Parker's death, Chan married saxophonist Phil Woods and moved to France, where she spent much of the rest of her life. She had another daughter from his marriage, Aimée Francesca Woods (1961-1993). In 1981, Chan helped write and edit a book of photographs of Charlie Parker titled To Bird with Love[7][8] and later wrote the autobiographical memoir My Life in E-Flat.[9] The second book was published in 1999, the year of her death from cancer, aged 74, in Étampes, France.[10]

Just before her death, Chan was interviewed by Ken Burns, and she is seen posthumously in Episode 8 of Burns' 2001 documentary Jazz.[11]

Chan Parker was the mother of jazz vocalist Kim Parker (b 1947).[12] Chan and Charlie's son Baird lived until 2014.[13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Chan Parker". Bird Lives: The Life of Charlie Parker, Jr. birdlives.co.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Index record for Chan Woods Social Security Death Index". fold3 by Ancestry. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  3. ^ "My Life in E-Flat: Chan Parker". University of South Carolina Press. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  4. ^ Siders, Harvey. "Don Lanphere" Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine, JazzTimes, March 2002; accessed 4 June 2015.
  5. ^ Burns, Ken. "Featured Video: Risk". Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. Public Broadcasting Service. Event occurs at 1:41. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. ^ A PBS interview of Parker for the documentary Jazz
  7. ^ Parker, Chan; Paudras, Francis (1981). To Bird with love. WIZLOV. ISBN 978-2903577001.
  8. ^ Ratliff, Ben (17 December 1997). "Francis Paudras, 62, Patron of Jazz Pianist Bud Powell". New York Times. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  9. ^ Parker, Chan (1999). My Life in E-Flat. Univ. of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-245-9.
  10. ^ "Chan Parker, 74, Known as Jazzman's Wife". The New York Times. 19 September 1999.
  11. ^ Burns, Ken. "Featured Video: Risk". Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. Public Broadcasting Service. Event occurs at 1:41−1:44. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  12. ^ Yanow, Scott. "Kim Parker". AllMusic. Netaktion LLC. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  13. ^ Charles Baird Parker 61 Son of Jazz Great. Philly.com. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
[edit]
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