Charlie Parker vs James Brown
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Charlie Parker | James Brown | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Jazz | Composer |
| Born | 1920 | 1933 |
| Died | 1955 | 2006 |
| 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 →
James Brown
James Joseph Brown Jr. was born on May 3, 1933, in Barnwell, South Carolina, and raised in Augusta, Georgia, in conditions of severe poverty during the Great Depression. He shined shoes, picked cotton, and by his own account wore clothes made from flour sacks. He was arrested for petty theft at sixteen and sentenced to hard labor. What emerged from that crucible was not bitterness, though there was plenty of reason for it — what emerged was the most kinetic, most commanding live performer in the history of American popular music, a man who turned…
Full biography of James Brown →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United States.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- 13 years separate their births (1920 and 1933).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Charlie Parker or James Brown?
- Charlie Parker. Charlie Parker was born in 1920, James Brown in 1933.
- What field is each of them in?
- Charlie Parker is filed under Music (Jazz). James Brown is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.