H. Charles (Charlie) Parker passed away on May 12, 2024 at the age of 80 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. It is perhaps fitting that he passed away on Mother’s Day; his mother, Frances Parker, a pianist and music teacher, gave to him a love of music and an extraordinary musical talent. Music, especially jazz, was his career and greatest passion for seventy years. Charlie was a World War II baby who rarely saw his father, Lt. Col. Horace Parker, for the duration of the war. He grew up in Hampton, SC and roamed the streets, woods, and nearby swamps with the Hampton boys. When Charlie was 10, his dad bought him a cornet, and the moment the first sound emerged from that horn his life as a musician began. His first gigs were with local country bands. While still in high school he played with a popular band in the area, the Melody Makers. He graduated from Wade Hampton High School in 1962 and attended Newberry College, where he majored in music. After graduating from Newberry in 1966, he began teaching at J.L. Mann High School in Greenville. He received a Master of Music Education degree from the University of South Carolina in 1972, and taught at Gilbert High School before opening Parker Music Company, headquartered in Greenville. He operated Parker Music for more than thirty years, at the same time teaching music lessons, starting community and school band programs, including at Greenville’s Stone Academy, and performing throughout South Carolina. He was a music professor at North Greenville University, Clemson University, and USC-Spartanburg. Charlie served in the South Carolina National Guard Band for more than twenty years, a number of those as director. He played as a freelance musician with Henry Mancini, Woody Herman, Nancy Wilson, Roberta Flack, Clark Terry, Natalie Cole, Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Greenville Symphony, the Columbia (now South Carolina) Philharmonic, the Greenville Symphony Jazz Quartet, and many others. Charlie was proficient on numerous instruments. In addition to the trumpet, he played the flute, piano, saxophone, clarinet, and many others. He read music well, but was even fonder of playing by ear. He would say, “if you can hum it, I can play it,” and that improvising was “just like talking.” Charlie’s passion for music was rivaled (but never surpassed) by his love for eating and cooking seafood – improvising (of course) recipes that were always delicious – and fishing. He took his friends and family on many canoeing, fishing, and camping trips in Hampton County’s black water swamps, always emerging wet and happy after some great adventure. He was endlessly curious about life, an entertaining storyteller, an eternal optimist, and a friend to everyone he met – the quirkier the better. Charlie is survived by his daughter, Jennifer Parker-Harley, and son-in-law, Mike Harley, both Professors of Music at USC; two granddaughters, Ella and Lucia; nephew and nieces Jay, Meg, and Emma; and brothers John Parker (Trudie) and Mike Parker. Funeral services will be held Sunday, May 19, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. at Harmony Presbyterian Church in Crocketville, S.C. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Please come and bring your instrument. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the USC Jazz Studies program: 877-349-2106, https://sc.edu/colleges_schools/music/study/performance_areas/jazz.
