What Even is Bebop?
You may have read that one of the pieces I’m working on right now is Thelonius Monk’s Straight, No Chaser.
This past week we talked in my lesson about the idea of “Enclosures,” and this sparked a memory of some bebop scales I had done for my combos class at Pasadena City College last semester. I honestly didn’t have a context for Bebop. I figured it was like somewhere in the 60s when jazz started being all drugged up and fast and exciting and taking place in the Village. But I really didn’t know any legitimate facts And I hadn’t put it together that “enclosures” and “deflections” were specific to Bebop.
I’m now pretty sure they are.
I pulled out this scale sheet that had been given to me by a previous teacher and noticed David Baker’s name on it. I didn’t have any idea who he was (yes, I have a lot to learn!) so I did some Ask Jeeves-ing tonight and discovered that he was the one who started University of Indiana’s Jazz program!
I imagine learning in this way: I start a new subject and roll out a blank canvas bolt of fabric. On the right side is now, and on the left side is the past. As I learn I fill in the blank spaces. I knew something was going on in this time period, but I hadn’t really ever thought about what or who. Now I can add a few names and faces to my jazz tapestry, as I like to call it.
I have also been pretty into the Learning Jazz Standards Podcast lately, to keep me focused and learning even while I’m at work. Today I found an episode about the history of jazz, and it was great! I really recommend this podcast and episode! I’ve tried to get jazz history from documentaries and/or Ken Burns, but I always find them overwhelming. Brent (from LJS podcast) did a great job of breaking jazz into a few main periods, giving a new main names and notable features and suggestions for further study (albums to check out).
Here’s my summary:
Early Jazz/Dixie Jazz
Banjos and tubas (no drums or bass)
Louis Armstrong (Hot and Hot 7 sessions)
Bick Spiderbeck (spelling?)
Jellyroll Morton
Sydney Bechet (spelling?)
Swing
jazz=popular music
Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport
Fresdie Green
Count Basie
Coleman Hawkins
Lester Young (later influenced cool jazz 😎)
Bebop
jazz- more about virtuosity, not dancing 💃
smaller bands
featured soloists
late night jam sessions
Charlie Parker
Dizzy Galespie
Bud Powell - Bouncing with Bud
Thelonius Monk - his own style, lots of space, playing off melody.
Hard Bop vs Cool Jazz 😎
1950s
cool jazz is west coast
laid back, unhurried
horns are lighter
Miles Davis
Paul Desmond
Dave Brubeck
Sketches of Spain
Gill Evans
Hard Bop - east coast
slower than bebop
blues, gospel influence
Art Blakey
sonny Rollins
wes Montgomery
John Coltrane (bluetrane)
Free Jazz
no form, improvise freely
dissonant
the shape of jazz to come
Fusion
1970s
electronic rock and jazz
straight 8
miles Davis- Bitches Brew
chick Correa
John McLaughlin
Modern Jazz
1980s to now
no predominant characteristic
pat methany
curt rosenwinkle
******
I finally know what “Hard Bop” is, which, I mean come on. I was SURE hard bop was a jazz movement started by defunct Muppets with Animal as the band leader. There is no way it is anything else. But Brent says it is something else, so fine. But I’ll just imagine all those East Coast Hard Boppers as Muppets anyway.
This episode also clarified to me why jazz in California sounds so different from Jazz in New York. It really is different. And it’s clearly this Cool Jazz vs Hard Bop division that split the country in two in the 1950-1960s.
Brent ended this episode talking about jazz today, which he calls “modern Jazz” and has it spanning from the 1980s to now. He didn’t really have a descriptor for it. It’s kind of everything, and nothing. Where are we now? What does it mean to be “jazzy”?
I wonder if in 30 years we’ll be able to look back and see more clearly where we are now. Maybe COVID will be the thing that finally unites jazz in this country and becomes the driving force that saves us all. Kind of like the end of Mars Attacks.
Only time will tell.
