Chris Parker is an American drummer. During his childhood Parker's father, artist Robert Andrew Parker, attached wooden blocks to the hi-hat and bass drum pedals, so that Parker's feet could reach the pedals to play the drums along with records. His father, who was also a jazz drummer, introduced young Parker to the music of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Leadbelly, Ray Charles, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. When he became a teenager he began practicing with friends and finding out the nostalgia of rock and roll by listening to such jazz drummers as Roger Hawkins, D. J. Fontana, and New Orleans icons such as Earl Palmer, Smokey Johnson and James Black. His enthusiasm grew as he went to New York City's School of Visual Arts to