I wouldn't go so far as to say that Bird created bebop/modern all by himself. Bird was a great leap forward, but he was certainly not the only guy playing. Music is a continuum: Louis influenced Roy Eldridge, who influenced Dizzy and Miles, etc. Then you've got people like Coleman Hawkins who spanned the whole period starting in the swing era and then moving up with the times. Your explanation suggests Bird popped out of the ground fully formed. Not so. Great idea for a thread though. Not enough good jazz conversations on here.
The Evolution of Modern Jazz
Shadorne's thread "Outstanding Examples of Musicianship" inspired me to begin this thread. While Shadorne stated that all genre's were welcome, I felt that me and another jazz aficionado were beginning to dominate that thread. Shadorne is a "Rocker", bless his heart. This community functions best when like minded people engage in common dialogue.
The title explains this thread. We will use "youtube" the same as in Shardone's thread to illustrate our examples, and now I begin.
In the beginning, there was Charlie "Bird" Parker, and he said "Let there Be Bop" and thus it began. While walking down the street, Bird ran into John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, who had similar ideas, so they "Bopped" down the street together; Bird on alto sax and Diz on trumpet. My first illustration of this new music is "Bloomdido" with Bird and Diz. We should cover "Be Bop" in depth before we go to the next phase of this evolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MCGweQ8Oso&NR=1