Charlie Parker vs Ella Fitzgerald
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Charlie Parker | Ella Fitzgerald | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Jazz | Composer |
| Born | 1920 | 1917 |
| Died | 1955 | 1996 |
| Country of birth | United States | United States |
| Star sign | Virgo | Taurus |
Who they are
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas, and grew up across the river in Kansas City, Missouri, in a city that pulsed with jazz at every hour of the day and night. The Kansas City of Parker's youth was a wide-open town, operating under the corrupt but musically fertile patronage of political boss Tom Pendergast, and the music that thrived there — hard-swinging, blues-drenched, built for all-night cutting sessions — formed the soil in which Parker's genius took root. He began playing alto saxophone at age eleven and joined…
Full biography of Charlie Parker →
Ella Fitzgerald
On the night of November 21, 1934, a seventeen-year-old girl walked onto the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem for Amateur Night and froze. She had entered intending to dance — she was a known dancer among her friends in Yonkers — but when she looked out at the audience, something failed. She stood there, in a dress borrowed from a friend, in shoes that didn't fit, before an audience that was already restless. Then she opened her mouth and sang. The audience went quiet. She won first place. The bandleader Chick Webb heard…
Full biography of Ella Fitzgerald →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United States.
- Near contemporaries - 3 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Charlie Parker or Ella Fitzgerald?
- Ella Fitzgerald. Charlie Parker was born in 1920, Ella Fitzgerald in 1917.
- What field is each of them in?
- Charlie Parker is filed under Music (Jazz). Ella Fitzgerald is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.