I: a History of Bebop Bebop Is a Subgenre of Jazz That Focuses on Fast Moving Scales, Immense Musical Virtuosity, and Complex C
Borton 1 I: A History Of Bebop
Bebop is a subgenre of Jazz that focuses on fast moving scales, immense musical virtuosity, and complex chord changes. Unlike the styles of Jazz that preceded it, like Big Band Swing and Pop Jazz, Bebop focused on subtler rhythmic propulsion and smaller ensembles.
Bebop has its roots with the Saxophonist Charlie Parker (pictured right). Born in 1920, Parker spent his early years in Kansas city. It was here that he learned the Alto Saxophone while playing in his high school’s Concert Band. After highschool, he spent a few years playing in local clubs prior to moving to New York in 1939. While playing in New York, he developed a radical new style of Jazz that was to be dubbed Bebop. Alongside musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, this new style of Jazz flourished. Bebop later evolved into several other subgenres, such as Hard Bop and Modal Jazz. Indeed, almost every subgenre of Jazz has been influenced by Bebop.
II: Music for Musicians
Bebop, with its complex harmony, breakneck speed, and displays of virtuosity was not a style developed for easy listening. It was very much music for the musical intelligentsia, not designed to be danced to or be talked over. So, what makes Bebop? Firstly, the instrumentation. When Bebop was first developing, large Big Bands of up to twenty people were in vogue. Bebop scaled this back significantly, with quartets or quintets consisting of Saxophone (Alto or Tenor), Trumpet, Piano, Bass, and Drums. Next, the form: Typically, a song will open with a “head”, the main theme which sets the layout which would be soloed on. Almost every member of the band will take a solo based on the chord progression of the head (the only exception is usually the drummer). Then, all members will replay the head and the piece will come to a close.
The Bebop scale (pictured above) is one of the fundamental building blocks on which musicians build their solo. Bebop took the art of improvisation to a new level, with musicians soloing for great amounts of time and exploring many harmonic and melodic ideas during their solo. Often going at incredibly fast tempos (often >200 BPM), this demanded a massive amount of both theoretical and technical knowledge.
Borton 2 III: Breaking from the Dance Floor
Bebop was one of the first subgenres of jazz to consider itself art rather than entertainment. To many people, Bebop sounded nervous, eccentric, and elitist. Despite this, it’s popularity among musicians and non-musicians grew. Musicians such as Miles Davis, John Coletrane, and Cannonball Adderley continued the style and brought it to new artistic and expressional heights. Today, musicians such as Wynton Marsalis and Leo Pellegrino continue the genre. Bebop improvisation techniques are taught in universities everywhere as part of Jazz studies.
IV: Notable Artists - Charlie Parker - Dizzy Gillespie - Miles Davis - John Coletrane - Cannonball Adderley - Bill Evans - Oscar Peterson - Tommy Flanagan Bibliography
Waring, Charles What Is Bebop? Deconstructing Jazz Music’s Most Influential Development udiscovermusic 13 April 2019 https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/what-is-bebop-jazz/
Harvers, Richard A Bird’s Life: How Charlie Parker Changed The Course Of Jazz History udiscovermusic 28 August 2019 https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/charlie-parker/
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About The Bebop Scale… But Were Too Afraid to Ask Jazzadvice 29 August 2019 https://www.jazzadvice.com/mastering-the-bebop-scale-and-jazz-improvisation/