Lecture 10 The Bebop Revolution

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1 Lecture 10 The Bebop Revolution What is bebop?! Wikipedia defines it as: A form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody History In the 1940s, the young boppers began to develop their own style out of the swing music of the 1930s Musicians were influenced by adventurous soloists of the preceding generation, such as pianists Art Tatum and Earl Hines, tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, and the trumpet player Roy Eldridge Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker had traveled with some of the pre-bop masters, including Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, and Jay McShann These musicians had begun exploring more advanced harmonies, complex syncopation, altered chords, and chord substitutions, and the boppers continued this exploration with more freedom and a purposefully arcane approach The early history of bebop is difficult to document because of the strike of by the American Federation of Musicians, during which there were no official recordings Instrumentation The classic bebop combo consisted of saxophone, trumpet, bass, drums, and piano Sometimes augmented by an extra saxophonist or guitar Occasionally adding other horns (often a trombone) Or dropping an instrument and leaving only a quartet Musical Style Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, complex harmonies, 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 lovers, bebop was an exciting and beautiful revolution in the art of jazz

2 The Music While swing music tended to feature orchestrated big band arrangements, bebop music was much more free in its structure A head would be presented in unison at the beginning and the end of each piece, with improvisational solos based on the major chords making up the body of the work Bebop music extended the jazz vocabulary by exploring new harmonic territory through the use of altered chords and chord substitutions Contrafacts Melodies grew in complexity from those of swing jazz, and began to twist, turn, and jump rapidly to follow quickly-changing chord progressions As bebop grew from its swing-era roots, these progressions often were taken directly from popular swing-era songs and reused with a new and more complex bebop melody, forming new compositions known as a contrafacts While contrafaction was already a well-established practice in earlier jazz, it came to be central to the bebop style Musicians and audiences alike were able to find something familiar in this new exotic sound, but perhaps more importantly, small record labels such as Savoy, often avoided paying copyright fees for pop tunes Ornithology Recorded on March 28, 1946 in Hollywood Written by Charlie Parker and Benny Harris Based on the chord changes to How High the Moon Personnel Charlie Parker (alto saxophone) Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone) Miles Davis (trumpet) Arvin Garrison (guitar) Dodo Marmarosa (piano) Vic McMillan (bass) Roy Porter (drums) Minton s Playhouse A jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Hotel Cecil at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem Minton s is famous for its role in the development of modern jazz, where in its jam sessions in the early 1940s, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Christian, and Dizzy Gillespie, pioneered the new music Minton s thrived for three decades until its decline near the end of the 1960s, and its eventual closing in 1974 The club reopened its doors in 2006, under the name Uptown Lounge at Minton s Playhouse

3 Charlie Parker ( ) Born Charles Christopher Parker, Jr. on August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas and raised in Kansas City, Missouri One of the founding fathers of bebop Commonly considered one of the greatest jazz musicians Parkers innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony were enormously influential on his contemporaries His music remains an inspiration and resource for musicians in jazz as well as in other genres Early Years Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11 At age 14 he joined his school s band using a rented school instrument One story goes that Parker, having never been taught formally, was terrible, and thrown out of the band Experiencing occasional discouragements of this sort, at one point Parker broke off his already constant practicing Turning Point In 1937 Parker played at a concert that included Jo Jones on drums, who tossed a cymbal at Parker's feet in impatience with his playing, and to remove him from the stand Exasperated and determined, from that point Parker improved the quality of practicing, learning the blues, Cherokee and I Got Rhythm in all twelve keys, and eventually become a virtuoso through sheer hard work In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said he spent 3-4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day Rumor has it that he used to play the same melodies in all twelve keys Anthropology Recorded November 26, 1945 Based on the chord changes to I Got Rhythm Originally released as Thriving on a Riff Personnel Charlie Parker (alto saxophone) Miles Davis (trumpet) John Lewis (piano) Curly Russell (bass) Max Roach (drums) Yardbird Legend says that the pseudonym Yardbird came after Parker suggested he and his bandmates cook up a yardbird for dinner, after their car ran over the chicken in question Eventually it was shortened to Bird

4 This came to symbolize the soaring flight of his music and his genius Start Spreadin the News In 1939, Parker moved to New York City to pursue a career in music, but he held several other jobs as well One of these was as a dishwasher, making $9 a week, at Jimmie s Chicken Shack, a restaurant where famous pianist Art Tatum was playing In 1942 Parker left Jay McShann s band (which he joined in 1937) and played with Earl Fatha Hines for seven months Parker was one of a group of young musicians who congregated in after-hours clubs in Harlem such as Minton s Playhouse and Clark Monroe s Uptown House Making the Scene It was not until 1945 that Parker s collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie had a substantial effect on the jazz world On November 26, 1945 Parker led a record date which was marketed as the greatest jazz session ever Shortly afterwards, the Parker-Gillespie band traveled to Los Angeles for an unsuccessful run at Billy Berg s club, which left most of those in the audience ambivalent or hostile towards the new music Most of the band soon decided to return to New York, but Parker stayed in California, where his self-destructive lifestyle was to catch up with him Addiction As a teenager, he had developed a morphine addiction while in a hospital after an automobile accident He subsequently became addicted to heroin, which was to haunt him throughout his life and to ultimately contribute to his death Parker s habit caused him to miss gigs and to be fired for being high To continue his buzz he frequently resorted to busking on the streets for drug money Heroin was difficult to obtain after his dealer was arrested, and Parker began to drink heavily to compensate for this Relaxin at Camarillo One night, Parker was drinking in his hotel room He went down to the hotel lobby stark naked and asked to use the phone, several times He was refused on each attempt and the hotel manager eventually locked him in his room At some point in the night he set fire to his mattress with a cigarette, then ran through the hotel lobby wearing only his socks He was arrested and committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where he remained for six months

5 Coming out of the hospital, Parker was initially clean and healthy, and proceeded to do some of the best playing and recording of his career Before leaving California, he recorded Relaxin at Camarillo, in reference to his hospital stay Dude, where s your horn?! Parker was known for often showing up to performances without an instrument and borrowing someone else s at the last moment On one particular occasion before a concert in Toronto, Canada, he had sold his saxophone to buy drugs, and at the last minute, he, Dizzy Gillespie and other members of Charlie s entourage went running around Toronto trying to find a saxophone After scouring all the downtown pawnshops open at the time, they were only able to find a Grafton plastic saxophone, which Parker proceeded to use at the concert that night Jazz at Massey Hall A jazz album featuring a live performance by The Quintet on May 15, 1953 at Massey Hall in Toronto The musicians were five of the biggest names in jazz: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach Parker could not be listed on the original program notes or album cover for contractual reasons, so he was billed as Charlie Chan (an allusion to the fictional detective and to Parker s wife Chan) It was the only time that the five recorded together as a unit, and it was the last recorded meeting of Parker and Gillespie Unfortunately, the concert clashed with a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott and as a result was poorly attended Salt Peanuts Recorded live in Toronto on May 15, 1953 Written by Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Clarke Based on the chord changes to I Got Rhythm Personnel Charlie Parker (alto saxophone) Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet) Bud Powell (piano) Charles Mingus (bass) Max Roach (drums) Charlie Parker with Strings In 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians that included Mitch Miller on oboe and English horn, Ray Brown on bass, and Buddy Rich on drums

6 Parker s improvisations are, relative to his usual work, more distilled and economical, his tone is darker and softer than on his small-group recordings, and the majority of his lines are beautiful embellishments on the original melodies rather than harmonically-based improvisations These are among the few recordings Parker made during a brief period when he was able to control his heroin habit, and his sobriety and clarity of mind are evident in his playing When he did record and perform with strings, some fans thought it was a sell-out and a pandering to popular tastes Death Parker died while watching Tommy Dorsey on television in the suite at the Stanhope Hotel belonging to his friend and patroness Nica de Koenigswarter Though the official cause of death was pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, his death was hastened by his drug and alcohol abuse The 34-year-old Parker was so haggard that the coroner mistakenly estimated Parker s age to be between 50 and 60 Sources History and Tradition of Jazz by Thomas E. Larson Jazz for Dummies by Dirk Sutro Jazz a film by Ken Burns Discography 1. Bebop by Dizzy Gillespie from the album Ultimate Dizzy Gillespie Verve 2. Ornithology by Charlie Parker from the album The Genius of Charlie Parker Savoy Jazz 3. Thriving on a Riff by Charlie Parker from the album Charlie Parker Memorial, Volume 2 Savoy Jazz SV Relaxin at Camarillo by Charlie Parker from the album The Genius of Charlie Parker Savoy Jazz 5. Salt Peanuts by The Quintet from the album The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall Debut Records 6. Just Friends by Charlie Parker from the album Charlie Parker with Strings Complete Master Takes Verve POCJ-2078

Jazz Fundamentals. Greg Polanik Coordinator Corina Iukovici Co-Coordinator. Academy for Lifelong Learning Cape Cod Community College Spring 2015

Jazz Fundamentals. Greg Polanik Coordinator Corina Iukovici Co-Coordinator. Academy for Lifelong Learning Cape Cod Community College Spring 2015 Jazz Fundamentals Greg Polanik Coordinator Corina Iukovici Co-Coordinator Academy for Lifelong Learning Cape Cod Community College Spring 2015 Chapter 4 Bebop Oo Bop Sh' Bam! Dizzy Gillespie Bebop 1945-1950s