Bebop is a virtuosic style of jazz with fast tempo, complex melodies, and solos based on harmony instead of referencing melodies / head. It came as a response to the swing era jazz, which Bebop musicians perhaps saw as too popularized and simple.
Hallmarks & Contribution to Jazz
- melodically
- jagged, dense, rapid figures
- uneven phrasing
- extended solos
- harmonically
- vertical improvization
- complex harmonies
- meter & rhythm
- uneven accents (spread across down & upbeats)
- use of cymbals of rhythmic foundation
- rhythm section
- absolute music
Musicians
- Coleman “Hawk” Hawkins: tenor saxophonist
- His recording of “Body and Soul” with the Paul Whiteman orchestra marks a turning point in jazz after which jazz musicians soloed based on harmony (what befits the current chord) instead of melody (referencing the head). The recording featured a solo cadenza with vertical improvization style, which immediately began to influence swing era musicians and later generations as well (e.g. bebop).
- Art Tatum: pianist
- akin to Coleman Hawkins: solos based on harmony
- blind but dextrous
- intentionally played quietly to capture more attention in bars
- Charlie Parker (1920-1955)
- known for practicing for excessive hours, so much so as to receive complaints from neighbors
- drug abuse, which was followed by many other musicians like John Coltrane
- Dizzy Gillespie: trumpeter
- Bud Powell: pianist, composer
- Duke Ellington: bandleader
- Thelonius Monk: pianist, bandleader
- Charles Mingus
- John Coltrane