Search Results - Bebop
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Bebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s. It first surfaced in musicians' argot some time during the first two years of the Second World War. The 1939 recording of "Body and Soul" by Coleman Hawkins is an important antecedent of bebop. Hawkins' willingness to stray—even briefly—from the ordinary resolution of musical themes and his playful jumps to double-time signaled a departure from existing jazz. The recording was popular; but more importantly, from a historical perspective, Hawkins became an inspiration to a younger generation of jazz musicians, most notably Charlie Parker, in Kansas City. In the 1940s, the younger generation of jazz musicians forged a new style out of the swing music of the 1930s. Mavericks like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk were influenced by the preceding generation's adventurous soloists, such as pianists Art Tatum and Earl Hines, tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Gillespie and Parker, both out of the Earl Hines Band in Chicago had traveled with some of the pre-bop masters, including Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines and Jay McShann. These forerunners of bebop began exploring advanced harmonies, complex syncopation, altered chords, and chord substitutions and the bop generation advanced these techniques with a more freewheeling and often arcane approach. Minton's Playhouse in New York served as a workout room and experimental theater for early bebop players, including Charlie Christian, who had already hinted at the bop style in innovative solos with Benny Goodman's band. Christian's major influence was in the realm of rhythmic phrasing. Christian commonly emphasized weak beats and off beats, and often ended his phrases on the second half of the fourth beat. Christian experimented with asymmetrical phrasing, which was to become a core element of the new bop style. Swing improvisation was commonly constructed in two or four bar phrases that corresponded to the harmonic cadences of the underlying song form. Bop improvisers would often deploy phrases over an odd number of bars, and overlap their phrases across bar lines and across major harmonic cadences. Christian and the other early boppers would also begin stating a harmony in their improvised line before it appeared in the song form being outlined by the rhythm section. This momentary dissonance creates a strong sense of forward motion in the improvisation. Swing improvisers commonly emphasized the first and third beats of a measure. But in a bebop composition such as Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts", the rhythmic emphasis switches to the second and fourth beats of the measure. Such new rhythmic phrasing techniques give the typical bop solo a feeling of floating free over the underlying song form, rather than being tied into the song form. Swing drummers had kept up a steady four-to-the-bar pulse on the bass drum. Bop drummers, led by Kenny Clarke, moved the drumset's time-keeping function to the ride or hi-hat cymbal, reserving the bass drum for accents. Bass drum accents were colloquially termed "dropping bombs." Notable bop drummers such as Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, and Kenny Clarke began to support and respond to soloists, almost like a shifting call and response. This change increased the importance of the string bass. Now, the bass not only maintained the music's harmonic foundation, but also became responsible for establishing a metronomic rhythmic foundation by playing a "walking" bass line of four quarter notes to the bar. While small swing ensembles commonly functioned without a bassist, the new bop style required a bass in every small ensemble. By 1950, a second wave of bebop musicians — such as Clifford Brown, Sonny Stitt, and Fats Navarro — began to smooth out the rhythmic eccentricities of early bebop. Instead of using jagged phrasing to create rhythmic interest, as the early boppers had, these musicians constructed their improvised lines out of long strings of eighth notes, and simply accented certain notes in the line to create rhythmic variety. Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers. The music itself seemed jarringly different to the ears of the public, who were used to the bouncy, organized, danceable tunes of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller during the swing era. Instead, bebop appeared to sound racing, nervous, and often fragmented. But to jazz musicians and jazz music lovers, bebop was an exciting and beautiful revolution in the art of jazz. While swing music tended to feature orchestrated big band arrangements, bebop music highlighted improvisation. Typically, a theme (a "head," often the main melody of a pop or jazz standard of the swing era) would be presented together at the beginning and the end of each piece, with improvisational solos based on the chords of the tune. Thus, the majority of a song in bebop style would be improvisation, the only threads holding the work together being the underlying harmonies played by the rhythm section. Sometimes improvisation included references to the original melody or to other well-known melodic lines ("allusions," or "riffs"). Sometimes they were entirely original, spontaneous melodies from start to finish.
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Showing 1 to 7 of 7 Articles matching 'Bebop' in related articles. |
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1. Listening to Music Online
November 12, 2009
Pretty much everybody loves listening to music, no matter what style they have. There's always something for everyone in the world of music, be it club, jazz, bebop or the blues. Music is simply so diverse - which is a fantastic thing, because it means that nobody ever has to feel left out when it comes to finding their own favourite type of sound. Building your own music collection used to be something that took a massive amount of time and cost a great deal of money. Sometimes, it was even difficult to do as rare, hard to locate CDs - or even cassettes or records - took a lot of hunting d... (read more)
Author: Jonathan Wallace
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2. Museum Tour With The Kansas City Limousine
October 22, 2009
Kansas City is well known by lots of names. Whereas city calls itself 'Heart of America,' also it is known as home of swing & bebop musicians like Charlie Parker. Others exalt Kansas City as 'City of Fountains.
Taking Kansas City Limousine Trip Kansas City boasts the historic backyards, boulevards and fountains than any other city in world besides Rome. So, taking Kansas City Limousine trip through the Kansas City is a great method to sit back & enjoy the sights of the entire city, soak in the musical and the cultural history as well as explore the reasons why Kansas City is the most fam... (read more)
Author: Regal Limousine
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3. Take a Museum Tour With a Kansas City Limousine
May 29, 2009
Kansas City is known by many names. While the city calls itself the 'Heart of America,' it is also famously known as the home of swing and bebop musicians such as Charlie Parker. Still others exalt Kansas City as the 'City of Fountains.' One of the lesser known but equally beloved treasures of this city is its wonderful assortment of museums, ranging from World War I to American Jazz and baseball. Indeed, there is no better way to spend a day in Kansas City than visiting some of its best and most popular museums.
Taking a limo trip in Kansas City
Kansas City boasts historic backyards... (read more)
Author: Andre Welkinson
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4. Three Powerful Ideas To Get the Most Out Of Your Jazz Group's Practices
May 12, 2008
Choose a purpose for the group When putting a practice group together it is important to decide upon a purpose or focus for the band. What does everyone hope to get out of it? What areas of music will you focus on? The clearer the group is on this the more productive your practice sessions will be, much more productive in fact. So decide ahead of time. You could focus on any element of music really, but here are a few ideas for you.
• Learn jazz standards • Learn bebop tunes • Study the music of one musician • Study the music of one period of jazz • Explore one aspect of musiciansh... (read more)
Author: Chris Punis
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5. Soulja Boy - A Truly Universal Rapper
April 16, 2008
Rap has had many changes in the 20 years it has been in the mainstream. It went from the early bebop days to the gritty underground days and to where it currently lies the pop days. The days of Run DMC and DJ Jazzy Jeff are long gone and now “bubble gum” rap rules the mainstream. Not only does it rule the mainstream it has managed to develop a culture of its own in the small towns that played a major part in creating this “bubble gum” rap. Many “hip-hop heads” blame the South for it since the majority of this type of music has come from there. Rap experiences new kings on a yearly basis.... (read more)
Author: Jacques Morel
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6. Jazz Pioneer Max Roach Dies at 83
August 16, 2007
Master jazz percussionist Max Roach has died after a long illness. He was 83 years old.
Blue Note Records says the musician died Wednesday night at a hospital in New York City.
Roach's rhythms helped define the bebop jazz movement of the 1940s, which he pioneered alongside legendary performers Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins.
Layering beats and introducing new meters, Roach pushed jazz music beyond the boundaries of standard four-four time. Roach's innovations - including his creative use of cymbals - helped elevate the role of the drummer from timekeeper to featured perf... (read more)
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7. Bob Marley and His Music
November 10, 2006
Bob Marley’s exposure to American music groups came first in his hometown of Trenchtown. Bob and many of his friends appreciated and welcomed the sounds of American musicians such as Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and the musical harmonizing of The Impressions. The Drifters, and their lead vocalist Ben E. King, also made a strong impression on Bob; as did some of the tougher sounds at the pop and of R&B, particularly those coming out of Berry Gordy’s studio in Detroit. It was also in Trenchtown that young Bob was exposed to bebop and modern jazz for the first time. In Marley’s younger years he first b... (read more)
Author: Sharon White
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