Seventy years ago, Charlie Parker and four other be-bop legends created what many call the greatest jazz concert ever— with Parker playing a plastic saxophone. A reissue of the recording is out.

Charlie Parker had pawned his saxophone. BROWNLEE: Dina Bennett is a doctor of ethnomusicology and interim director of the American Jazz Museum. BENNETT: He was given the plastic saxophone to play.

“Buying that sax was the coup d’état for Kansas City,” Cleaver maintains. “And of course now, it’s not controversial, it makes sense to have Charlie Parker’s saxophone.

The Case: A woman owns a beautiful old alto saxophone that belonged to her father and according to family legend was once owned by the legendary jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.

The Case: A woman owns a beautiful old alto saxophone that belonged to her father and according to family legend was once owned by the legendary jazz musician Charlie Bird" Parker. Her late father, a ...