Background
She was born in New York City, New New York
She was born in New York City, New New York
She was a dancer and jazz enthusiast who in the 1940s and early 1950s was romantically connected with jazz musicians Johnny Bothwell and later Don Lanphere. She met Parker in the 1940s, but their friendship did not become romantic until years later. As it developed, their relationship had to surmount several obstacles, not the least of which were Charlie"s frequently ungovernable drug and alcohol abuse and the simple fact of sharing love across a racial divide that the society of the era was hugely invested in maintaining.
She complained that taxis would not pick Parker up because of his race, and mentioned that the two of them often attracted stares because their relationship was interracial at a time when American society was still highly segregated.
However, in the jazz world, which had long been integrated, it was not an issue. She indicated in her memoirs that Parker protected her, to a degree, from both these problems.
There were other strains as well. After Parker"s death in 1955, Chan married saxophonist Philosophy Woods and relocated to France, where she spent much of the rest of her life.
In her later years, she went on to write a memoir, My Life in East-Flat, which discusses her life with Charlie Parker.
lieutenant was published in 1999, the year of her death, which occurred in Étampes, France. Just before her death, Chan was interviewed by Ken Burns, and she was seen posthumously in Burns" 2001 documentary, Jazz.