Bebop

What is Bebop?
The term bop comes from the need to describe the energetic, nervous nature of this new music. Bebop is a STYLE of jazz that developed in the years from 1940-45, and it signals in the era of Modern Jazz and a clean break of the Swing Era. What are the characteristics of Bebop? Aesthetics of the style are based on improvisation, not melody or arrangement of the melody. Melodies are stylistically more complex and improvisatory than melodies from the swing era. Smaller groups become more popular than larger big bands. Jazz clubs (small) take the place of the large Dance Halls of the 1930s. De-emphasis on commercial success, popularity and dancing. The pulse, or beat, is less clearly stated in bebop - making it harder to feel the beat.

The Revolution of Bebop

Bebop is a reaction to the well-polished big band extravaganza. Even though most of the players that created bebop had played in big bands, they led this rejection of the musical characteristics of the swing era. Instead of dance halls, bars and clubs became the training ground for the musicians of this new style. The music was created for listening, not for dancing. The performers were trying to capture the impromptu spontaneity of the jam session - not the tightly organized performance. While swing era arrangers skillfully inserted space for individual improvisation into the arrangement, bebop groups avoided complex charts and arrangements. The focus was on the ability of each player to improvise like a virtuoso.

Reactions to Bebop
Many older musicians did not understand the new style... Cab Calloway called the playing of Dizzy Gillespie Chinese music. Louis Armstrong said, All they want to do is show you up, and any old way will do as long as its different from the way you played it before...you got no melody to remember and no beat to dance to. A large segment of the jazz audience felt the same way and didnt enjoy the fact that their jazz music was now being called old fashioned. This difference of opinion led to great debates on jazz in the late 1940s among the old and new school of the music as well as the audience, the critics, the dancers, the amateurs, etc. EVERYONE was talking about jazz.

The Beginnings of Bop

The music began as a music for musicians in the early 1940s. Even as many derided the style as too modern, bebop built a loyal following. Slowly bop became the dominant jazz style by the end of the 1940s. A new tax on dance halls led to their decline, while small clubs and bars ourished. Younger musicians, who didnt have the constant employment that the stars of the swing era had, were interested in this new style, and intrigued by the possibilities of a wholly new musical language. So, the new musicians pushed for change that led to the rise of Bop and the demise of Swing music. With the rise of bop, jazz ceased to be a commercially successful music. Some players thought that bop could still be adapted so that dancing was possible, but in the end that didnt happen.

The Culture of Bop

Bop became a cultural phenomenon. The followers of bebop took on the characteristics of their heroes. The beret, goatee and glasses of Dizzy Gillespie as well as the heroine addition of Charlie Parker. The music was seen as a rejection of all things conformist and mainstream. The musicians saw the music as a political statement and declaration of independence. Additionally, many of the same players thought that the older musicians - like Armstrong - represented a racial stereotype of the black entertainer in America. There to please the white population. This social commentary in the 1940s laid the groundwork for the more deant and powerful political statements in jazz during the 1960s.

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker

Characteristics of Bebop
Bebop differed from swing music in four distinct ways: Improvisational style, melodic language, tempo and harmonic language. Classic jazz and Swing musicians improvised by Embellishing the melody. Bebop soloists typically solo by improvising over the chord changes - trying to create a completely new melody in their solo - not rehash the melody of each specic tune. Many melodies before Bop were hold overs from Broadway or popular music. The melodies in bebop were crafted like a solo. Complex, disjunct at times, chromatic and jagged. Swing era music was meant to be danced to, thus the tempos were danceable. Energetic bebop tunes were faster and crisper than swing tunes and the ballads in the bebop era were typically played much slower than ballads from the earlier eras. Remember, even ballads were to be danced to in the swing era. The harmonic language on classic jazz and the swing era was usually a three or four note chord - a minimum amount of dissonance in the harmonic progression. In bebop the language adds extensions to the chords - making them 5, 6 or even 7 note-chords. Adding a fair amount of dissonance to the chordal progression.

Bebop and Swing

There are some aspects of bebop that were retained in bebop: 32-bar popular song form The blues Improvisation based mostly on 8th note melodies Instruments in ensembles consist of front-line & rhythm section

Bebop Terms
Extended Chord tones - instead of focusing on the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the scale to create chords and melodies bebop musicians used the 9th, 11th and 13th notes as well. This led to more dissonance. Re-harmonization - Changing some (or all) of the chords in a wellknown song to freshen and modernize the sound. Dropping bombs - Used to describe the drummer placing sharp, irregular accents into the accompaniment. The drummer is no longer just keeping time, he/she is an important contributor to the syncopation and rhythmic vitality of the music. Comping - The syncopated accompaniment supplied by guitarists and pianists. It is a contraction of the term complement.

Recomposition in the Bop Era

AABA and 12-bar blues were still popular, but to modernize the result, musicians would recompose a standard tune. Recomposition would entail the following: keeping the original chord progression, but adding extensions to the chords. composing a new, more complex and improvisatory melody over the newly altered chords. This allowed for the performers to not pay royalties and play the chord progression of a song that they found interesting and fertile ground for improvisation.

Groovin High vs. Whispering

Recomposition in the Bop Era Whispering vs. Groovin High

Bing Crosby singing Whispering Dizzy Gillespie w/ Charlie Parker playing Groovin High Notice the differences in: Tempo Melody Harmony

The Origins of Bop

Informal jam sessions in Harlem were the rst forays into bebop. Mintons Playhouse hired drummer Kenny Clarke as the band leader. Clarke then hired the other players, including a quirky pianist named Thelonious Sphere Monk. This was an informal setting - allowing musicians to sit in, and the late night sessions were rife with experimentation. This was a low-stress gig - therefore there was no pressure to please anyone. Basically, they were developing a new music amongst themselves. At Monroes Uptown House (another club) drummer Max Roach led a band of experimental players as well. It was a 3 AM session at this club that inspired Charlie Parker to quit the touring band he was in and stay in New York. These sessions, and the development of Bop are not recorded for two reasons: 1) a musicians strike that started in 1942 because of a lack of royalties being paid to musicians for records playing on the radio and 2) a shortage of: rubber, gasoline and shellac. These shortages led to diminished opportunities for touring (tires and cars...) and less shellac to create the albums.

Charlie Parker - alto sax

Born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1920. A hugely inuential alto saxophonist - similar to Armstrong in scope, ability and inuence. The rst important saxophonist of the modern style. At 15 was playing in a territory band led by Lawrence 88 Keyes. Parker was called, the saddest thing in the Keyes band. Did not ourish at rst - his earliest attempts at performance at jam sessions led to him being laughed off the bandstand. He worked hard to become a better player - he began learning Lester Young solos (Count Basies band) note-for-note and studying harmony with local guitarists and keyboard players. In 1938 - at 18 years of age - he joined the band of Jay McShann and began touring with this group.

Charlie Parker - alto sax

In 1939 the McShann band was in NY for a series of gigs and Parker went to Monroes to hear local players. After hearing the caliber of player there Parker quit the McShann band and moved to NYC. He played at Monroes nightly, washed dishes at a Bar & Grille so he could hear Art Tatum play there a few times a week. He immersed himself in the NYC music scene. Parker went back to McShann in 1940 to make his rst recordings, then returned to NY in 1941or 1942 for good. Kenny Clarke said: Bird was playing stuff wed never heard before. He was twice as fast as Lester Young and into harmony Lester hadnt touched. Bird was running the same way we were, but he was way out ahead of us.

Charlie Parker - His playing

He had an edgy tone - almost abrasive. Use of the blues inections Double-time 16th note runs Angular, irregular melodic lines Emphasis on the middle and upper registers of the instrument Irregular phrase length

Listening Example: Shaw Nuff CD #3, Track #1

AABA form with extended introduction. The main melody starts after the descending, fast run in the piano. Melody presented in unison - both Parker and Gillespie playing same notes. Parker takes rst solo - notice the long lines, irregular phrasing. Gillespie erupts into his solo - focuses on the high register of the trumpet with very long lines Piano solo - Al Haig - is advanced, and similar is scope to Gillespie and Parker, but a little less polished in the bebop tradition. Return of the melody - and the tune ends with a restatement of the introduction.

Listening Example: Koko CD #3, Track #3

Features Parker (alto sax); Gillespie (trumpet and piano) and Max Roach (drums). The introduction is serving as a makeshift melody - not really memorable - but serves the purpose to get to the solos, which is what intrigued these players. Parkers solo is impressive on many levels - speed, dexterity, irregular phrase lengths, memorable melodic motions. Notice Max Roach dropping bombs on the bass drum to add syncopation and accent to keep it fresh and different. The bass player is the primary time-keeper - the drummer now is adding to the interest of the song, not just providing the basic beat. This is a BIG development. Roachs drum solo - frenetic, energetic, chaotic - looking forward. Introduction returns as an ending. Muted trumpet and alto saxophone end the tune.

Charlie Parker - continued

Parker, a heroine addict, ended up in a mental hospital for 6-months in 1946 following a tour in California. The period from 1947 to 1951 was a very successful period in his career. He recorded some of his best work, went on his successful tours and evolved further as an improviser. His nal years were unfortunate. He gained weight, drank heavily and suffered from ulcers. A daughter of his, Pree, died of pneumonia, he fell into a deep depression, attempted suicide, and committed himself into Bellevue hospital. Parker died in 1955, after being released from the hospital. His body was so ravaged by years of substance abuse, the doctor assumed he was 53 years old - Parker was actually 34.

John Birks (Dizzy) Gillespie - trumpet

The consummate musician. A composer, arranger, pianist, trumpeter and clown - which earned him the nickname Dizzy. His most important contributions are the many compositions and recompositions he created during the development of bebop. Groovin High, Woody n You, Salt Peanuts, A Night in Tunisia etc. Many tunes that are now standards. Born in South Carolina, Gillespie moved to NYC in 1937 at the age of 20 and quickly began working in the best bands in NY, including The band or Cab Calloway. He routinely participated in the after-hours jam sessions at Mintons. Gillespie was becoming well-known in NY, but his recordings and tours with Parker thrust him into the national spotlight.

Gillespie - continued

Gillespie - continued
Gillespie split with Parker after the west coast trip that resulted in Parker going into a mental hospital. Gillespie, a more commercial element of bebop, went to the larger group format in the late 1940s and had successfully migrated bebop from the small group to the big band. Gillespie embraced the Afro-Cuban element of jazz and hired the best and brightest latin jazz pioneers including Chano Pozo, a conga player. Gillespie always wanted bebop to be entertaining - he bemoaned the leaving behind of the audience. His later career was as a champion of the music that he helped to create in NY in the 1930s and 1940s.

Gillespies solo on Anthropology

Gillespie