East Coast Hard Bop
Funk
Music - Gospel had moved North with the black Diaspora. The churches and the
blues singers were in the big cities. Still moving down a fifth via the flat 7th
5th and 3rd, and including plagal Amens flirting with the subdominant. The music
'preached' with close 'Barbershop' harmonies and secondary dominants giving the
music a smooth flow. The Bop lines were simplified and the rhythm more basic and
the harmonies less advanced. In hard bop, blue notes were being replaced by
minors.
Chronology - In 1950 the swing musicians seemed confused. Bird's Bop revolution
couldn't kill Swing nor Dixieland they both continued with Ellington, Basie and
Armstrong. The Dixieland revival had bloomed and although Bop was still king,
'Cool' jazz was on its way. Things were looking up for jazz. Schools across the
U.S. had Dixieland bands and jazz was starting to be considered more legitimate.
A good jazz player could make a decent living and people were less and less
opposed to mixed coloured bands. However, by 1952 not much new had happened and
Bop was getting old and fragmented into 'Hard' and 'Cool' schools.
1955 Art Blakey formed The Jazz Messengers and recorded for Blue Note - a
reaction to the white West Coast too 'Cool' music which was immensely popular
but was breaking away from the black jazz traditions. Art Blakey rescued Bop
from estrangement and reintroduced earthy, thunderous gospel blues back into the
music, always filled with joy, always foot tapping stuff. Folk who could not
relate to Bop were dancing again. Bringing the kids back to jazz from 'Rhythm
and Blues'.
Blakey was a teacher and mentor to many, the best University around - Sonny
Rollins, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers,
Benny Golson, Woody Shaw, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarret, Wayne
Shorter, Wynton Marsalis ...
Funk - Horace Silver (1928 - )
Charles Mingus developed 'Hard Bop' into compositions but had only fleeting and
temporary success.
But it was Sonny Rollins who carried the Bop inheritance forward.
Hard Bop backlash against cool 1950's. maintaining the rhythmic drive of bebop
while including blues and gospel
Funky jazz uses simpler harmonies, an emphasis on rhythm, easily recognizable
tunes, and anything else that players like Horace Silver could invent to
increase the audience¹s involvement and pleasure. Gospel jazz is an extension of
funky jazz. Funky jazz can be heard in the performances of Bobby Timmons with
Art Blakey, as well as with Cannonball Adderly. The adoption of gospel idioms by
Les McCann could place his performances in the church as easily as on stage or
in the night club.
back to jazz tradition