A Look at Bebop Music, the Most Glorious Chapter in Jazz

The term “improvisation” is quite ubiquitous in jazz music. It stands for creating melodies over chord changes of a tune. The improvisation may or may not depend on the structure of the original tune.

This article is not meant for discussing jazz improvisation, that discussion is saved for another day. What we’re going to discuss in this article is the famous Bebop style, to which jazz improvisation could be largely attributed. Bebop wasn’t simply a jazz style, it signified a new era of experiments, leaning toward melody and fast tempo.

Origination of Bebop

The second world war and the rise of smaller ensembles are closely associated with the inception of bebop. World war II brought an end to swing music because it always relied on big bands, and during the second world war, many musicians were in overseas countries wearing olive colored military uniforms.

Smaller ensembles were an inevitable outcome of this. Intricate arrangements were dropped in favor of melodic improvisations and the ensembles lost weight, and began to consist of only saxophone, bass, piano and trumpet; it still wasn’t Bebop, Bebop originated when extended solos were played with saxophone over the composed part of the arrangement

Celebrated Bebop musicians

The entire jazz music genre should be thankful to the below mentioned musicians because they made significant contributions to the development of Bebop and Bebop always functioned as the cornerstone for jazz.

Charlie Parker – Parker walked on this earth for only 34 years. But it’d be foolish to measure his life in terms of how long he lived; his life should rather be measured in terms of the intensity it exhaled. He is considered as the co-founder of Bebop. Parker was originally an alto saxophonist, later his harmonic and melodic improvisations parted way from swing music and then formed the Bebop style. Find below the link to his best works;

 

Max Roach – The Bebop style of drumming will always owe him a debt of gratitude. Being a drummer, Roach performed with some of the celebrated jazz artists of his time including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and the legend Miles Davis. The rhythmic unpredictability that we’ve described above, parented by Roach as he, along with fellow drummer Kenny Clarke, began to use ride-cymbal for 4/4 time signature. The new style offered a distinctive rhythmic pattern for the soloists.

Below is the link to his full album;

Dizzy Gillespie – A lifelong friend and collaborator of Parker, Gillespie had hands in the development of Bebop. Originally a drummer, Gillespie played alongside Parker in a swing ensemble, run by Billy Eckstine and Earl Hines. His technique was playing melodic lines to the highest pitch of the instruments. Known as an iconic figure in jazz, Gillespie helped popularize it through different parts of the world.

Below is the link to his famous album “Salt Peanuts”

 

Thelonious Monk – Monk was a pianist and a composer. He experimented with harmonies. His improvisations made the lane wider for bebop. Some of his famous compositions are “Epistrophy”, “In Walked Bud”, “Round Midnight” and “Ruby, My Dear”. His ways of playing the piano were quirky to say the least. Dissonances and angular melodic twists were two essential features of Monk’s compositions. Find below the link to his famous album “Blue Monk”

 

Conclusion

Bebop will always remain contextual alongside jazz as it inspired musicians of a generation to improvise on chord changes. This article is perhaps not enough to capture Bebop’s full significance; that’s because the long-story-cut-short formula doesn’t always work. But we tried to explore as many aspects of Bebop as we could. As a reader, you could judge how honest we have been in that effort.