6. Charlie ParkerBird Goes Latin

I was in America doing a tour with Helios Creed, I think, at the time. I was in Boulder, Colorado in a music shop and I found this Charlie Parker CD, Bird Goes Latin, and I was really taken by it, I thought it was fantastic. I listened to it every night when I went to bed and would fall asleep to it, thinking I could absorb all of the classic technique and wonderful ideas and be able to play them myself. I found it really inspiring stuff and I had grown up on Charlie Parker. My mum played the piano. She played Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton, people like that, and my uncle played the clarinet and my auntie sang like Billie Holiday. The first record I bought was ‘Twelfth Street Rag’ by Pee Wee Hunt. I remember learning the solo, and can still play it. I remember busking sometimes, playing that.