Charlie Parker
Alto Sax Solo on
Romance Without Finance

About

Charlie Parker's alto saxophone solo is the first of three improvisations on this medium-up swing performance. Taking a half chorus of the 32-bar AABA form in E-flat at 188 BPM, Parker packs substantial melodic ideas into his brief solo. His characteristic rhythmic invention and harmonic ingenuity are on full display, each phrase carrying the weight of ideas that lesser musicians would need far more space to express.

Charlie Parker was 23 to 24 years old at the time.