Kansas City, Mo. ? With music and words, they came to remember jazz giant Charlie Parker on the eve of what would have been his birthday.

And their tribute, on a warm Sunday afternoon, made Bird’s family proud of Kansas City for the first time in years.

“Finally, today, we have felt Kansas City has started to appreciate him,” said Parker’s cousin, Myra Brown, “and I thank you for that.”

Parker, who was only 34 when he died in 1955, was born in Kansas City, Kan., and was discovered in the jazz clubs of Kansas City, Mo. He is buried beneath a marble slab in Lincoln Cemetery, in an unincorporated area between Kansas City and Independence.

While the saxophone player’s hometown has paid some tributes to him, including installing a giant sculpture of his head in the 18th and Vine jazz district, annual tributes have fallen silent in recent years.

The Charlie Parker Memorial Foundation, which had maintained a tradition of playing by Parker’s grave on the anniversary of his birth, fell apart in 2001 with the death of bandleader Eddie Baker.

Brown, who lives in Kansas City, organized a group of about 30 out-of-town relatives to visit Parker’s grave on Sunday and asked local musician Ahmad Aladeen to organize the event. What she didn’t know was that word was also spreading through the jazz community.

So when the group arrived at the cemetery, there were more than 100 people already there, with about two dozen musicians warming up.

The program included a parade by the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band, a jam on “Now’s the Time,” and performance of “Billie’s Bounce” by a row of sax players.

Elvis “Sonny” Gibson was one of the surprise organizers, promoting Sunday’s commemoration at the opening of his exhibit of Parker memorabilia last week at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center.

“This is overdue,” Gibson said.

“Charlie Parker should always receive this kind of recognition.”