Bebop (and its many children)
During and after WWII, the emphasis in jazz shifted away from bands back
to playing in smaller combos. In these smaller ensembles, players
experimented with a new soloing vocabulary, creating a fast and angular
style called bebop.
What is the function of bebop?
It is art music, intended to be listened to.
What are some characteristics of bebop?
Fast, lots of solos, played by a combo, rhythmically/tonally/harmonically
very complex
Charlie Parker was a sax player nicknamed Bird. He is considered the father
of bebop. He inspired many other musicians by his brilliant playing (good
thing). His heroin use also inspired many jazz musicians to do the same
(bad thing).
Dizzy Gillespie was a trumpet player who was the cover boy for bebop. He
was articulate and eloquent, a brilliant player, and fun to photograph because
of his big cheeks.
Cool Jazz- Same vocabulary as bebop, but less emotional and much slower
Miles Davis was a trumpet player who released the cool jazz album Kind of
Blue, which remains the best-selling jazz album of all time.
Hard Bop- Same vocabulary as bebop, but with a danceable backbeat and a
strong blues influence
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers- Blakey was a drummer who led the
band for 45 years, and used his band a training ground for new musicians.
Soul Jazz- jazz+blues+gospel
Fusion- jazz+rock (and technically, anything else)
Miles Davis was a pioneer of fusion.
Avant-garde- trans.-front line. Emotion without structure. Music that is
very “out.” Not mainstream. The more avant-garde a piece is, the less
likely it is to be appreciated by a wide and general audience.
Ornette Coleman was a sax and trumpet player who played a style called
free jazz. There were no chords, no time signature, no nothing!
John Coltrane was a superb tenor sax player who played many styles before
getting very out.
What distinguishes avant-garde jazz from people randomly noodling around
on instruments?
Personnel. If the players are jazz players, then it’s jazz. If they’re just
hacks messing around, it just noise.
Jazz now- Jazz players now have the advantage of perspective and
education. They have 100 years of jazz that they can study and listed to
(most of it). They can also go to universities and get advanced degrees in
jazz performance, theory and composition.