Editing Charlie Parker (section)

=== 1936–1938: Jam sessions and woodshedding ===
Upon leaving high school, Parker began to play with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City and often ambitiously took part in [[Jam session|jam sessions]] with more experienced musicians. In early 1936, at one such jam session with the [[Count Basie Orchestra]], he lost track of the chord changes while improvising. This prompted [[Jo Jones]] to contemptuously remove a cymbal from his drum kit and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage.{{Sfn|Priestley|1984|pp=|p=17}}{{sfn|Haddix|2013|p=21}}

[[File:Bird's sax NMAAHC-2019.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A King 'Super 20' alto saxophone, owned and used by Charlie Parker, now at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]]]
Rather than becoming discouraged, Parker vowed to practice harder. He mastered improvisation and, according to his comments in an interview with [[Paul Desmond]], spent the next three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 17, 2014 |title=Paul Desmond Interviews Charlie Parker (1954) |url=https://bobreynoldsmusic.com/paul-desmond-charlie-parker/ |access-date=December 11, 2019 |website=Bob Reynolds}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Paul Desmond interviews Charlie Parker |url=http://www.puredesmond.ca/pdbird.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706194036/http://www.puredesmond.ca/pdbird.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |website=Puredesmond.ca}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Fordham |first=John |date=June 16, 2011 |title=A teenage Charlie Parker has a cymbal thrown at him |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/17/charlie-parker-cymbal-thrown |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Parker proposed to Rebecca Ruffin, his girlfriend four years his senior, and the two were married on July 25, 1936.<ref> Dixon, Anita. "Charlie Parker, 'I was his first, he was my first, it was all special", ''Pitch Weekly'' (KCMO), April 10, 1996.</ref> They had two children together before divorcing in 1939, in large part due to his growing drug addiction.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-31 |title=Charlie Parker - myth and mayhem - National Jazz Archive |url=https://nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/posts/articles/2020/08/charlie-parker---myth-and-mayhem |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=nationaljazzarchive.org.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2020-09-02 |title=The short, troubled life of saxophone genius Charlie 'Bird' Parker |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/charlie-bird-parker-death-jazz-musician-saxophonist-miles-davis-a9689511.html |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

In late 1936, Parker and a Kansas City band traveled to the [[Ozarks]] for the opening of Musser's Resort south of [[Eldon, Missouri]]. Along the way, the caravan of musicians had a car accident and Parker broke three ribs and fractured his spine.{{sfn|Haddix|2013|p=24}} Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in the summer of 1937, where he spent a great deal of time [[woodshedding]] and developing his sound.{{sfn|Haddix|2013}}{{sfn|Crouch|2013}} Working with two musicians on chordal instruments, a pianist and guitarist respectively, he was able to practice improvising over chord changes and began to develop the ability to solo fluently across chords and scales.{{Sfn|Priestley|1984|pp=|p=16}}

In 1938, Parker joined pianist [[Jay McShann]]'s [[territory band]].{{sfn|Woideck|1998|p=18}} His first gig with the band was during the summer or early fall at the Continental Club in Kansas City, where Parker worked as a substitute alto saxophonist for Edward "Popeye" Hale.{{sfn|Haddix|2013|pp=34–35}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 30, 1938 |title=Jay McShann band at Continental Club |work=[[Kansas City Journal-Post]] |pages=7}}</ref> In December, he joined [[Harlan Leonard]]'s Rockets; the band played at dances including a [[Christmas]] dance for which Parker was listed in a local newspaper as one of the Rockets' personnel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 23, 1938 |title=Harlan Leonard's band to give Dance Xmas Night |work=[[Kansas City Call]] |pages=9}}</ref>