What’s bebop? The Large Apple definitely didn’t know what hit it when Charlie Parker blew into city like a twister and shook the jazz scene to its very core. It was 1942, and the 22-year-old alto saxophonist from Kansas Metropolis, then enjoying in pianist Jay McShann’s band, was blowing his horn in a means that had by no means been heard or seen earlier than. Molten melodic strains poured out of him in a rapid-fire torrent of improvisation that took virtuosity to a brand new stage.
Parker, who in his personal phrases had been “bored with the stereotyped [chord] changes that were being used,” discovered a kindred spirit in trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, with whom he performed in Earl Hines’ band later the identical yr. Collectively, their sonic explorations, which developed quickly throughout the subsequent three years, would sow the seeds for what turned referred to as bebop.
Whilst you’re studying, hearken to our Bebop Jazz playlist right here.
What’s bebop?
Bebop, because the revolutionary new type and sound ultimately got here to be recognized (the origin of the phrase “bebop” partly stems from a nonsensical phrase utilized in improvised scat singing) grew as each an offshoot of and response to massive band swing music, which was dominated by propulsive dance rhythms. In bebop, although, the rhythmic emphasis was switched from the bass drum to the extra refined hi-hat and experience cymbal, which allowed better rhythmic fluidity (drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach had been the chief instigators of this new strategy). Within the fingers of bebop musicians, jazz turned extra blues-oriented and riff-based too; and since Parker and Gillespie had been capable of marry their supreme technical skill with their data of superior music principle, what resulted was a brand new kind of jazz outlined by prolonged solos and whose harmonic language was denser and richer than ever earlier than.
This meant that soloists actually needed to be sharp-witted, well-prepared, and know their scales inside out, particularly when the chord adjustments got here thick and quick (as was the norm with bebop). It’s value noting that tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins anticipated the improv side of bebop when he recorded the tune “Body & Soul” in 1939, during which he briefly acknowledged the principle melody earlier than embarking on a protracted improvisation that bore little resemblance to the principle theme. It proved to be a profoundly influential recording for aspiring saxophonists.
However bebop – or “rebop,” because it was additionally recognized for a time – wasn’t to everybody’s style. Because it wasn’t danceable – it was normally performed too quick for that – those that had loved swing jazz discovered it of little curiosity and too mental. Certainly, bebop, with its improvisatory ethos and demand for virtuosity, insisted upon being perceived as an artwork kind. However the elitist, self-conscious artiness, and cerebral side of what’s bebop alienated many listeners. Jazz was not carefree, happy-faced, radio-friendly music functioning as an escapist soundtrack, however had develop into one thing deeper and nearly visceral. Musicians the likes of Parker and Gillespie thought of themselves artists somewhat than entertainers, and sought to distance themselves from black music’s showbiz traditions.
A jazz revolution
A recording ban by the US musicians’ union between 1942 and 1944 (they had been placing to get a greater royalty charge from the recording corporations) meant that the start pangs of bebop had been initially not properly documented on document, however when the ban was lifted, the floodgates opened. Parker and Gillespie recorded collectively; individually; and with singer Billy Eckstine’s Orchestra, which helped incubate bebop within the mid-40s. The curiosity in bebop and “modern jazz” amongst younger jazz musicians grew quickly, and shortly Parker and Gillespie had been on the forefront of a jazz revolution in whose vanguard had been trumpeters Miles Davis and Fat Navarro, saxophonists Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt and James Moody, and pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. (The latter, although initially deemed a bebopper, shortly established his personal distinctive type that defied simple categorization.)
It was principally small indie labels that issued bebop recordings within the early days, however as this new music gained credence and recognition because the 40s turned the 50s, larger corporations started to become involved throughout what’s bebop’s Golden Age.
However by then, bebop, like all music varieties, was evolving and altering. Miles Davis, at 22, was already bored by bop and wished to attempt his hand at one thing else. He recorded some singles throughout 1949 and ’50 that ultimately turned an album referred to as The Delivery Of The Cool. Miles put collectively an ensemble that was bigger than the customary bebop small group and made music that was much less aggressive than what Parker and Gillespie had been doing. He additionally performed at a slower tempo – and, crucially, he decreased the depth and temperature a number of levels. This turned the blueprint for West Coast cool jazz, which might be widespread within the 50s.
Some jazz musicians additionally married bebop with classical music, amongst them The Fashionable Jazz Quartet, whose elegant, chamber jazz type was dubbed Third Stream Music.
In the meantime, on the US East Coast within the 50s, audiences nonetheless preferred bebop that packed warmth and drama. By the center of that decade, there emerged a variant of bebop referred to as laborious bop, which was characterised by dominant blues and gospel parts, and should have rendered these nonetheless questioning what’s bebop much more confused.
Freedom of expression
Onerous bop turned the most well-liked type of jazz within the 50s, and amongst its major practitioners had been Miles Davis – who, ever the stressed soul, stop the cool faculty quickly after it began – Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Artwork Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Sony Stitt, John Coltrane, Artwork Pepper, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Dorham, Sony Stitt, and myriad others. (By this time, bebop’s king, Charlie Parker, was lifeless, having handed away in 1955, aged 34).
Onerous bop remained a sound jazz forex proper into the 60s, although by then one other offshoot, referred to as soul jazz, supplied a extra accessible and gospel-infused model of bebop, and was widespread for a number of years. However jazz as an entire was shedding its viewers to rock and pop music. With the rise of avant-garde jazz, the music continued to shed its mainstream enchantment, although once in a while the occasional jazz document would infiltrate the pop charts.
Though fusion and jazz-rock additional diminished bebop’s enchantment within the 70s, there have been nonetheless musicians who performed it, and there was even a mini-revival of curiosity in it throughout the late 70s and early 80s, when acoustic, bop-influenced jazz was as soon as once more in vogue.
In the present day, within the twenty first Century, we’re formally dwelling in a post-bop period, however, amazingly, the music that Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie helped to create over 70 years in the past refuses to go away. Traces of its DNA might be discovered within the music of cutting-edge modern jazz artists resembling Robert Glasper, Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Kamasi Washington.
So what’s bebop? Wanting again, it’s rather more than the acquired picture of berets, goatee beards, hepcat slang, and laborious medicine. Bebop was about freedom of expression and escaping the harmonic and melodic restraints imposed by the previous musical order – and, thanks to what’s bebop music’s lasting legacy, that’s one thing that may nonetheless be mentioned of jazz immediately.
For extra important jazz, hearken to the Jazz Giants playlist on Spotify.
