Bebop
Melody - Regular use of the upper notes of the chord, 9ths 11ths
13ths. The semitone approach to the chord note from above in addition to the
lead from below. This, of course, led to chromatic chord movements in the
harmonies, complicating the sequence but supplying smooth forward momentum.
The phrasing was 'jagged' and 'angular' and full of fast triplets and
sixteenths, the melodic line spiced with unexpected accents.
Harmony - A general trend in 'orthodox' music has been to employ more chord
notes - from unison to octaves then fifths and fourths then thirds then more.
The same pattern is clear in jazz. Substitute chords were also used to add
colour ... again this was nothing new in orthodox music but the Boppers
understood why it worked ... it required a better instrumental technique and
this provided an elitist impetus to the music
Rhythm - As always in jazz the rhythmic developments were the most important,
the subtleties of accent, timing and division of the beat.
The regular four to the bar moved from the bass drum to the ride cymbal to
lighten and speed up the beat. The bass drum was effective for accents,
'dropping bombs'. The beat had a better flow.
This was similar to the earlier shift to lighten the beat when tuba and banjo
moved to bass and guitar and the high hat complemented the bass drum.
Swing had been dominated by 100 to 200 beats per minute, Bebop went to 300 bpm.
At these tempos uneven division of the beat was impossible for all but the most
skilled players and strings of even eighths became the norm, reversing one of
the earlier innovations of 'swing' ... but Parker did not succumb to the eighth
note strings, instead of 'displacing' eighth notes over a single beat as the
swing players did, Parker was displacing whole jagged phases away from the beat
... resulting in an extended escape from the ground beat ... this detachment was
emphasised by starting and finishing phrases on the 3rd and 4th 'off beats' ...
again not a new idea but taken much further by the Boppers ... this sift of time
was the main innovation of Bop often making it impossible for 'swing' musicians'
to play ...
Pianists stopped 'comping' the beat and started intermittent 'feeding' the
chords to the horns, thus the bass became the mainstay of the rhythm section
holding everything together. Horn improvisers now listened to the bass. The bass
became the main propulsive force even anticipating the beat. The drums more and
more were 'commenting' on the solo line of the horn.
Chronology - Around 1940 Big Band Swing was still going strong but creative
musicians were restless. Basie in Kansas City had shown that creative jazz based
on the blues was both attractive and popular. Now a second attempt to break from
the tyranny and oppression of written commercial swing was made by a group of
dedicated and brilliant musicians. They gathered after hours to jam at Mintons
in Harlem, simply for the pleasure ... resident were Thelonius Monk and Kenny
Clarke but others were soon drawn in - Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Don Byas,
Milt Hinton, Charlie Christian, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young, Ben Webster,
Roy Eldridge ... then Dizzy Gillespie, disillusioned within the confines of Cab
Calloway's commercialism ... then Charlie Parker, a Kansas blues man hearing and
playing things unknown ... free to experiment again ... Bird learns that any
note can be resolved from the upper thirds of the chords ... he can fly ... Bird
gives the Bebopers phrasing !
After Jay McShann in Kansas Bird joins Dizzy in The Earl Hines Orchestra.
The recording ban (starting in 1942) will make the development of the new Bop
something of a romantic mystery even to this day.
WW2 draft breaks up big bands, opens up competition to new ideas. The country
was nervous, and the music was nervous and agitated. Bop became the first jazz
style that was not used for dancing. Elitism. 1940 bop innovations. Dizzy
deliberately uses major thirds over minor changes in the song Pickin' the
Cabbage recorded in May. In June, he uses a diminished 9th on Bye, Bye Blues.
These things are new. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Christian are
occasionally beginning or ending phrases on 2nd and 4th beats. This is called
"offbeat". The usual practice is to use the 1st or 3rd.
new big band trend is afoot. This trend is called Progressive. Its proponents
are Stan Kenton, Boyd Raeburn and Earle Spencer. This will eventually influence
what will become Cool Jazz.
1943 Harlem riots, The Savoy closes and jazz moves to the safety of the Westside
and 52nd Street - Jimmy Ryans, The Onyx, The Famous Door, The Trock, The
Downbeat, Spotlight, Three Deuces, Kelly's Stables ... all styles, Billie and
junk prosper ...
1945 after the recording ban Bird's Savoy sides and 'Koko' bursts onto the
scene.
1946 Bird in trouble after the Billy Berg gig in LA and Camarillo.
1947 trying to be clean Bird opens at 'The Three Deuces' with Miles Davies.
Everyone wanted to play like Bird.
1949 Bird in Europe is a celebrity but back home he tries to play with Strings
great music and more popular but the younger musicians talk of a sell out.
Parker was a Blues player.
1949 Birdland opens and although everyone want to play like Bird, a role model
with his phasing and unfortunately with his 'dope'. Dope sucked them all dry ...
imagine what the music would have been like without 'horse'.
1949 Miles Davis appears as Charlie Parker's trumpet man.
1949 'The Birth of the Cool' with a Gil Evans and a rehearsal band ... cool,
soft and intense ... without the virtuosity of Bird, Miles played melodies with
timbres ... Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz ... J J Johnson and Kai Winding ... but
after seeing adulation in Paris Miles became embittered with being a nobody at
home and turned to drugs ...
1954 Bird's daughter dies and accelerates his own rapid demise at 34 years old
the following year. On March 4, 1955, Charlie Parker performs in public for the
last time at Birdland. On the 12th he dies of heart seizure, haemorrhage, and
general bad health. A life unlived.
1955 'Joyspring' Clifford Brown (1930 -56) and Max Roach - clean brilliance with
no hang ups, warm effortless melody, cut short by a road accident.
1956 'Saxophone Colossus' ... was Sony Rollins the natural heir to Bird ?
Improvising there and then with a big exaggerated tone and rhythm
Sarah Vaugham - Sassy, rich tone and musical excellence.
The key boppers were Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell ... but a major
contribution to 'Modern Jazz' was made by Norman Granz and 'Jazz at the
Philharmonic' - Hawk, Prez, Ella, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Bird, Diz, Stan Getz,
Max Roach and Oscar Peterson ...
Everybody was into Bebop phrasing ... Ella sang it with relaxed ease ... the
disciples were - Howard McGee, Fats Navarro, Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Serge
Chaloff, J J Johnson,
Louis, Billie and Ellington survived Bebop ...
But Bop ran into trouble - it was a musicians music not for dancing - it was
undermined by drugs - it was misunderstood by 'hippy' whites - it started to
criticise Louis as 'Uncle Tom' - 'mouldy figges' were denigrated
Jazz is very difficult to play and the mainstream of popular American music goes
into the blues stream via - Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Rock 'n' Roll and onto Rock
and its derivatives ...
bebop in the 1940's grew out of the small swing groups, more complex harmonies
saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker was the father of bebop, also trumpeter Dizzy
Gillespie songs by George Gershwin and Cole Porter not intended to be dance
music fast tempos based on the chord progressions of popular songs, such as "I
Got Rhythm", "Cherokee", or "How High The Moon". The improvisations were based
on scales implied by those chords, and the scales used included alterations such
as the flatted fifth.
The development of bebop led to new approaches to accompanying as well as
soloing. Drummers less bass drum more cymbal and hi-hat. Bass players took over
the pulse freeing pianists left hands modern jazz standard form: melody in
unison, take turns playing solos, then reunite for melody again
1940-1949 - The 1940's bring even more new styles. Dizzy Gilepsie starts using
major thirds over minor changes when he records "Pickin' the Cabbage" in May of
1940. On "Bye Bye Blues" he uses a diminished ninth. Parker and Gilepsie
occasionally start and end phrases on the 2nd and 4th beats while the standard
beats to end and start on are the 1st and 3rd. It is called playing "offbeat".
At this time swing is at its climax but is doomed to fall. Dixieland is being
revived and the seeds are being sown the seeds for bebop. Jazz is moving in two
distinct, yet opposing directions. One is a New Orleans revival called Dixieland
and the other is bebop (also known as rebop or bop) which is born in New York
City. At first bop presents relatively few new ideas. Later, eighth notes become
straighter in fast songs even though players start playing more off-beat. Also,
rhythm changes are bigger. Fast songs become faster while slow songs become
slower. Another great achievement of 1941 was when Roy Eldrige joined drum
player Gene Krupa's band becoming the first black performer to be accepted into
a white big band. In 1942 a recording ban limits the recording of the young bop
movement. However, the music is becoming better recognized as a new type of
music. The strike ends in 1944. In 1946 the first vinyl record is produced. By
'45 the clarinet is nearly out of the picture when it comes to jazz. This is
mostly due to the saxophone's influence in the band. Even brass players are
forcd to take notice as the sax becomes king. Also by the 1940's, jazz has
developed into many different styles of music. Bop, trad, swing, cool, and
Dixieland are all being played. Latin music is also influencing jazz.
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