When someone says “jazz”, what do you picture? People sitting quietly, watching a band unfold, taking in the atmosphere of a jazz club — listening rather than participating. But it wasn’t always quite like that. Before the 1940s, jazz was still closely tied to the dance floor. And then — boom — came bebop.

Suddenly, jazz was faster, trickier and far less interested in whether you could dance to it. Long, winding improvisations took over, melodies became sharper and harmony more complex. At the heart of it all was Charlie Parker — the alto saxophonist nicknamed Bird, and one of the musicians who completely changed the language of jazz.

But this playlist isn’t really about Parker’s own tracks. It traces the musicians who picked up the language he helped create and took it somewhere else. And by “influence”, we don’t mean imitation.

Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro took it to the trumpet. Elvin Jones carried it through the drums. Joe Henderson through the tenor saxophone. Different instruments, different generations — and each took something from Parker and made it their own.

And that is really what this playlist is about. Not 10 musicians trying to sound like Charlie Parker, but what happened when his ideas left his saxophone and travelled. From bebop to hard bop and far beyond it, they changed along the way — which is perhaps the best kind of influence there is.