Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parkerby Stanley Crouch (Author) A tour de force that is the print equivalent of a long, bravura jazz performance. . . . Crouch has given us a bone deep understanding of Parkers music and the world that produced it. In his pages, Bird still lives. Washington Post It is from Mr. Crouch, a novelist as well as a critic and essayist, that we come to see Charlie Parker in the context of his time and place in America. . . . One comes away from Mr. Crouchs book