Bebop
Bebop is a style of improvisational jazz that emerged in the 1940s, primarily developed by African American musicians who sought to move away from the structured melodies of the swing era. Characterized by its complex harmonies and interactive play among musicians, bebop was designed for listening rather than dancing. The term "bebop" is derived from an onomatopoeic phrase reflecting its staccato rhythms. Key figures in the bebop movement include saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and pianist Thelonious Monk, among others, who played small ensemble formats in venues like Harlem's Minton's Playhouse.
Bebop introduced a new level of musical freedom, allowing artists to explore intricate melodies and rhythms while employing chromatic scales that diverged from earlier jazz traditions. The style also fostered an environment of innovation, where experienced musicians could challenge less seasoned players through rapid tempos and complex harmonies. Although it faced challenges in gaining mainstream popularity, bebop laid the groundwork for subsequent genres, significantly influencing modern jazz, rock, and hip-hop. Despite its underground associations, notable artists like Gillespie actively promoted positive cultural exchanges and mentorship. Bebop remains a vital part of jazz history, reflecting the artistic evolution and social context of its time.
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Bebop
Bebop is the name of a form of improvisational modern jazz that emerged in the 1940s from African American jazz musicians who wanted to break from the structured melodies of the swing era to explore unstructured improvisation rooted in African and African American musical traditions (e.g., the blues). Bebop, also called rebop, bop, or modern jazz, employed small ensembles that played music for listening, not dancing. The name bebop is an onomatopoeic representation of a staccato two-tone phrase common in this genre. Bebop produced such leading musical figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Bird Parker, and Sarah Vaughan, influenced modern musicians, and spawned the genres hard bop and funky jazz. Music critic Scott DeVeaux equates bebop with a quantum leap in music.
Brief History
It is difficult to pinpoint an exact date for the birth of bebop. Music critics note jam session performances by Charlie Parker on Seventh Avenue in Harlem between 139th and 140th streets in late 1939 as reflecting the genre. Early in the 1940s, bebop had acquired its chromatic harmonies and interactive rhythm section, and its distinctive soloist style. Bebop became an outlet for jazz musicians’ growing dissatisfaction with commercial jazz music. In 1941, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Bird Parker, bass player Milt Hinton, pianist Thelonious Monk, and drummer Kenny Clarke began playing together at Minton's Playhouse on 118th Street in Harlem. Many music historians cite this collaboration as the birth of bebop. In 1944, Parker and Gillespie again collaborated in Gillespie’s quintet, featuring Max Roach on drums and Oscar Pettiford on bass. The group performed at New York's Onyx Club on 52nd street. This is believed to be the first time that the word bebop was used to promote a band; rebop was also being used at this time. While Harlem was the center of East Coast bebop, Central Avenue in Los Angeles was the center of West Coast bebop. Bebop also emerged in St Louis and Kansas City in the early 1940s.
Charlie Bird Parker's bebop performance of Ray Noble’s Cherokee at Clark Monroe's Uptown House in Harlem in early 1942 is particularly notable. This song was later recorded in New York in 1945 as Ko-Ko. Because of a strike on commercial music recordings called by the American Federation of Musicians from 1942 to 1944, very little bebop music was recorded until after 1944. Some of the first bebop recordings were made in 1945 by small independent recording labels. For instance, Parker’s Ko-Ko, a reinterpretation of Cherokee, was recorded on Savoy Records. Parker’s Ornithology was similarly a reinterpretation of a popular 40s show-tune, How High the Moon. Some music labels avoided paying royalties by having bebop musicians create new melodies from old chord progressions.
Overview
Smaller bebop bands, cultivated in small clubs and speakeasies, had saxophone, trumpet, bass, drums, and piano (occasionally a trombone, violin, and/or guitar were added) and featured more interaction and improvisation. A swing song had composed sections as well as sections designated for improvisation, while bebop had a main theme with extended solos over the main theme’s harmonic structure and then a repeat of the main theme. Early jazz was diatonic (i.e., using major and minor 7-note scales with 5 whole and 2 half steps) while bebop was chromatic (using all of the 12-note chromatic scale). Highly innovative and intimate, bebop used old jazz harmonies superimposed on "substituted" chords, with complicated, irregular length, double-time solos that emphasized rhythmic unpredictability and harmonic complexity while showcasing emotional power. The freedom of bebop allowed soloists to think and create.
Drums began to accent bebop music versus just keeping the tempo as they typically did in swing jazz. Smaller rhythm sections were given expanded roles where they could engage soloists with improvisations. Experienced bebop artists kept inexperienced players off the stage by playing quickly in unfamiliar keys; this also made harmonies hard to share with other musicians. Dissonances, polyrhythms, new tonal colors, and irregular phrasing that was said to give meaning to the pause between two notes became common features of the genre.
Important bebop musicians include alto saxophonist and Kansas City native Charlie Bird Parker (1920–1955), who was heavily imitated by 1940s musicians and is known for works like Ko-Ko, Confirmation, Moose the Mooche, and Billie’s Bounce. Parker died at age 34, after a long heroin addiction that started after a car accident. Trumpeter and South Carolina native Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993), credited for defining bebop along with Parker, is known for his fast playing, creating bebop harmonies, founding Cuban bop, and his works Salt Peanuts and A Night in Tunisia. Pianist Thelonious Monk is known for quirky and unique piano harmonies that extended the limits of jazz, and his works Blue Monk, Epistrophy, and In Walked Bud remain standards. Drummer Max Roach is known for having worked with nearly all of the top 1940s jazz musicians. Roach is also credited with using the ride cymbal, not the bass drum, to allow the drummer greater flexibility in sound and more opportunities to interact with the soloist. Other notable bebop artists include bassist Jimmy Blanton, guitarist Charlie Christian, drummer Kenny Clarke, saxophonist Dexter Gordon, trombonist Bennie Green, trumpeter Fats Navarro, bassist Oscar Pettiford, saxophonists Edward Sonny Stitt and Lester Young, and vocalist Sarah Vaughan.
Bebop is commonly identified with drugs and underground culture, yet leading artist Dizzy Gillespie openly rejected drugs, traveled abroad for the U.S. government, and worked as a goodwill ambassador to Cuba. Gillespie opened his home to and mentored many up-and-coming artists. Bebop did represent a contrast to the musical conventions of commercial jazz. Bebop artists, unlike tuxedoed swing musicians, wore hats and sunglasses and sported goatees. Racism in commercial jazz barred many black musicians from steady work in top New York dance halls and clubs. Bebop jam sessions, often scheduled after swing music jobs, gave artists an alternative to relentless tours that took them through the Jim Crow South and the space to develop as artists.
Critics compare bebop’s melodic and harmonic progressions, free structure, techniques, and aesthetics to qualities seen in African musical traditions. Bebop was briefly marketed as popular music in the 1940s, when commercial jazz was in a slump. Though bebop never went mainstream, it is central to modern jazz musicians’ identities, and it influenced rock and roll and hip hop music. Gillespie commented that he felt bebop was on the decline by 1950. Samuel Floyd notes the rise of bebop artists was a part of a larger trend in the 1940s of African American musicians and composers achieving distinction for their work.
Bibliography
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DeVeaux, Scott, and Giddins, Gary. Jazz. New York: Norton, 2009. Print.
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