The musical means developed with bebop had an influence far beyond the bebop movement. “Progressive jazz” was a broad category of music that included arrangements of bebop-influenced “art music” used by big bands such as those of Boyd Raeburn, Charlie Ventura, Claude Thornhill and Stan Kenton, and the cerebral harmonic explorations of small groups such as those of pianists Lennie Tristano and Dave Brubeck. Miles Davis and Gil Evans used intonation experiments based on harmonic bebop devices for the groundbreaking “Birth of the Cool” sessions in 1949 and 1950. The musicians who followed the stylistic doors of Davis, Evans, Tristano and Brubeck formed the core of the cool jazz and West Coast Jazz movements of the early 1950s. Bebop, as the revolutionary new style and sound eventually became known (the origin of the word “bebop” comes in part from an absurd word used in improvised scat singing), developed as an offshoot and reaction to big band swing music dominated by catchy dance rhythms. In bebop, however, the rhythmic accent was shifted from the bass drum to the more subtle hi-hat and ride cymbals, allowing for greater rhythmic fluidity (drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach were the main initiators of this new approach). In the hands of bebop musicians, jazz has also become more blues-oriented and riff-based; and because Parker and Gillespie were able to combine their highest technical skills with their knowledge of advanced music theory, a new type of jazz emerged, defined by extended solos, whose harmonic language was denser and richer than ever. The 4. In January 1945, Hart conducted a session with Parker, Gillespie and Don Byas, which were recorded for the Continental label (What`s the Matter Now, I Want Every Bit of It, That`s the Blues, G.I. Blues, Dream of You, Seventh Avenue, Sorta Kinda, Ooh Ooh, My My, Ooh Ooh). Gillespie recorded his first session as a leader on 9 January 1945 for the Manor label, with Don Byas on tenor, Trummy Young on trombone, Clyde Hart on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Irv Kluger on drums. The session included I Can`t Get Started, Good Bait, Be-bop (Dizzy`s Fingers) and Salt Peanuts (which Manor mistakenly called “Salted Peanuts”).
After that, Gillespie would take Bebop productively and be recognized as one of his figureheads. Gillespie played Gordon as a sideman in a session recorded on February 9, 1945 for the Guild label (Groovin` High, Blue `n` Boogie). Parker performed in sessions led by Gillespie on June 28. February (Groovin` High, All the Things You Are, Dizzy Atmosphere) and May 11, 1945 (Salt Peanuts, Shaw ` enough, Lover Man, Hothouse) for the Guild label. Parker and Gillespie were sidemen with Sarah Vaughan on May 25, 1945 for the Continental label (What More Can a Woman Do, I`d Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream, Mean to Me). Parker and Gillespie played in a session under the direction of vibraphonist Red Norvo on June 6, 1945, which was later released under the Dial label (Hallelujah, Get Happy, Slam Slam Blues, Congo Blues). Sir Charles Thompson`s September 4, 1945 All-Star session for the Apollo label (Takin` Off, If I Had You, Twentieth Century Blues, The Street Beat) featured Parker and Gordon. Gordon conducted his first session for the Savoy label on October 30, 1945 with Sadik Hakim (Argonne Thornton) on piano, Gene Ramey on bass and Eddie Nicholson on drums (Blow Mr Dexter, Dexter`s Deck, Dexter`s Cuttin` Out, Dexter`s Minor Mad). Parker`s first session as a leader took place on November 26, 1945 for the Savoy label, with Miles Davis and Gillespie on trumpet, Hakim/Thornton and Gillespie on piano, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums (Warming Up a Riff, Now`s the Time, Billie`s Bounce, Thriving on a Riff, Ko-Ko, Meandering). After appearing as a sideman in the R&B-oriented Williams Cootie Orchestra until 1944, Bud Powell was in bebop sessions under Frankie Socolow on May 2, 1945 for the Duke label (The Man I Love, Reverse the Charges, Blue Fantasy, September in the Rain), then Dexter Gordon on January 29, 1946 for the Savoy label (Long Tall Dexter, Dexter rolls again, I can`t escape you, Dexter digs). The growth of bebop until 1945 is also documented in informal live recordings.
Bebop, also known as BOP, the first type of modern jazz that divided jazz into two opposing camps in the second half of the 1940s. The word is an onomatopoeic interpretation of a two-tone staccato phrase that is distinguished by this type of music. When it appeared, bebop was unacceptable not only to the general public, but also to many musicians. The resulting rifts – on the one hand between older and younger music schools and between jazz musicians and their audiences – were profound, and the latter was never completely healed. While it can be argued that bebop gave jazz its greatest freedom of expression, bebop was unacceptable not only to the general public, but also to many musicians when it appeared. Bebop`s lack of “dansability” may have been at the center of this schism. The resulting gaps have been deep – on the one hand between new and old generations of jazz musicians and on the other hand between these musicians and their audiences. Despite all the criticism that many established jazz musicians made in the early days of bebop (including the great Louis Armstrong, who condemned new music as loud and “non-swinging”), bebop became the greatest influence on all popular music over the past half century.3 Arrangements in the swing era consisted mainly of composed sections, but with specific sections intended for improvisation. However, a bebop melody would simply consist of a statement of the head or main theme, prolonged solos on the harmonic structure of the head, and then a final statement of the head. It was common for bebop musicians to compose new complex melodies on familiar chord progressions. An example of this is Charlie Parker`s “Ornithology,” which is based on changes to “How High the Moon,” a popular show melody in the 1940s. Gillespie landed the first recording date with a major new music label, rca bluebird recording Dizzy Gillespie And his Orchestra on February 22, 1946 (52nd Street Theme, A Night in Tunisia, Ol` Man Rebop, Anthropology).
Later, Afro-Cuban recordings for Bluebird in collaboration with Cuban rumberos Chano Pozo and Sabu Martinez as well as arrangers Gil Fuller and George Russell (Manteca, Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, Guarache Guaro) were among his most popular and led to the craze for Latin American dance music of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Gillespie, with his extroverted personality and humor, glasses, lip beard and beret, bezel, beard and beret, has become the most visible symbol of new jazz music and culture in the public consciousness. This, of course, diminished the contributions of others with whom he had developed the music in previous years. His performance style, influenced by black vaudeville artists, seemed like a relapse for some and offended some purists (“too much smile, according to Miles Davis”), but it was interspersed with a subversive sense of humor that provided insight into attitudes toward racial issues that had previously kept black musicians out of the mainstream. Before the civil rights movement, Gillespie attacked racial segregation by mocking it. The intellectual subculture that surrounded bebop made it both a sociological and musical movement. [Citation needed] This new “musician`s music” was not so danceable and required careful listening. It also expanded the musician`s freedom. By focusing on improvisation, Bebop has enabled an explosion of innovation. Inspired by the harmonically and rhythmically more experimental musicians of the swing era – such as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Art Tatum and Roy Eldridge – bebop musicians expanded the range of musical means.