10 Into the Bop, the 40s

Beebop music was made to listen, as a reaction to the swing era.

Ending Swing

One other player of note was Art Tatum in:

Starring Art Tatum.

Notes:

  • Oh my god the speed and tenacity of those fingers.
  • Feels a lot like older Ragtime, but with swing, similar to like Jelly Roll Morton but even faster somehow.
  • Lots of ascending/descending scales to contrast with the other hand.
  • Sometimes the LH and RH are doing completely separate things, but somehow work together.
  • Reminds us of cartoon music.
  • It's sort of Stride (Piano), but its so advanced that it's almost a new style.

Bebop

The early bebop started at Mintons:

A place in New Harlem, where a lot of new bebop was made. The owner of the club got together a band to play new music for them. Some names:

It was an uptown, mainly African American place to go. To paint a picture, in Miles's autobiography he talks about how he wanted to meet the people like Charlie Parker at Mintons, so that's why he went to NYC. He said:

"If you didn't know how to play ... you'll get laughed off... You had to put up or shut up, and there was no in-between." - Miles Davis

Bebop (Bop) started at this club. After Minton's, it'd go downtown throughout the other jazz clubs. But it was only the hottest and most innovative at Mintons. There were some white people that braved going to Minton's, but they were few and far between.

Bop characteristics, as compared to swing, was:

  1. Small combos
  2. Faster tempos
  3. No clarinet, No guitar either (these are seen as old fashioned)
  4. A big display of virtuosity
  5. More complex harmonies and melodies (take the expected harmonies and add unusual chords and melodies, breaking the Jazz Form just a little bit)
  6. More comping from the rhythm section
  7. Ride symbol gets busier (not just holding a swing pattern)
  8. "Agitated" Sound

Bebop Songs

Starts in AABA Jazz Form, and starts with an introduction. The way that the head is played is such that the head is at A, but then at the second time the trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie will solo, then at B will do a sax solo by Charlie Parker, then back into the head. It's complicated, so it's good to listen for this knowing it ahead of time.

After that we have a second chorus with "Bird" (Charlie Parker) soloing. The third chorus is the same.

The fourth chorus is a drum solo by Max Roach.

The last chorus is the end.

Notes:

  • Dizzy and Charlie started playing in unison, which takes insane coordination
  • You can hear Charlie playing fast enough where the rhythms start to become syncopated.
  • You can hear Charlie's second sax solo (at A) have Chord Subsitution
  • Not a whole lot of dynamic shifts, maybe as compared to Coleman Hawkins
  • The only trumpet solo has a cup mute :)
  • He's starting to turn minor chords and mixolydian chords into major chords (ie: he's doing a 7 rather than b7).
  • He started moving down by half-steps, keeping the same melody