Lesson 5: Bebop

Orchestras and larger bands also began to transform themselves to play swing. This created what is known as big band. Big bands typically had between ten and twenty-five members and the music was more “arranged” than in a traditional smaller jazz band. Bandleaders led the bands and often injected a bit of their own style into the music that the band played. Some of the more famous bandleaders from this time include Count Basie, Bob Crosby, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Unlike classical conductors, bandleaders often played the lead instrument in the big band.

Bebop

From the big bands of the swing era, jazz shifted in the 1940s from danceable jazz to a musician’s jazz. In other words, jazz music became more complex and complicated. Bebop (or bop) features faster rhythms and more complex harmonies. The music also has more frequent chord changes, often after only a beat or two, and greater dissonance. Unlike swing, bebop was not intended to be dancing music; it was music to be listened to.

Two of the individuals most associated with bebop jazz are Charlie “Bird” Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. The two came to play together in New York during the 1940s, along with a number of other jazz musicians of the time. The result was greater innovation and experimentation in the music. Unlike some of the earlier jazz, bebop became jazz for the virtuoso, or expert, musician, as the technically sophisticated music called for skilled musicians. Improvisation was taken to new levels.

Jazz since the 1950s

Over the second half of the twentieth century, jazz would take on many new forms and styles. The commonality between many of them was that they are often based on the foundations of bebop. In the 1950s, cool jazz brought together classical music with bebop and swing. Musicians such as Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck created a more “intellectual” jazz that often de-emphasized the showmanship of earlier periods in favor of a “cool” performance. Modal jazz was based on cool jazz, featuring single chords for each piece (or a single chord for each part of the song). This was reminiscent of earlier forms of music, such as the Gregorian chants. Miles Davis also recorded modal jazz as well as cool jazz.

As jazz spread out from the United States, it was also incorporated into other musical traditions. Perhaps the best known of these jazz offshoots is Brazilian jazz, which is also known as bossa nova. Bossa nova is a mix of cool jazz, classical harmonies, and samba rhythms. The music often featured lyrics sung in Portuguese or English. The best-selling album of bossa nova was created by Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz, with the hit song “The Girl from Ipanema.” Today, the combination of Latin rhythms and jazz is known as Latin jazz.

By the 1960s, musicians were experimenting further with the jazz form. Free jazz or avant-garde jazz is free-form jazz music without traditional arrangements or structures. In fact, the music is almost totally improvised and it can have a very random, chaotic sound. Musicians such as Ornette Colman and John Coltrane are associated with this type of jazz.