Bebop was a revolutionary sound that captivated the audience due largely to the new found creative freedom of musical expression allowed by extensive improvisation. According to John Andrews (1998), “Bop marked the point at which both the musicians and their audience came widely conscious that Jazz was an art form. Andrews also goes on to mention that bebop’s mall focus was for people to seriously listen, instead of dancing. After bebop other styles of Jazz developed, such as progressive Jazz, cool jazz, and hard bop. These three styles of Jazz, In the pollen of many people, imparted a substantial influence on current jazz, and will likely impact future generations as well. Bebop is a style of Jazz developed in the early sass as a means to revolt against big band music. Big band music required large groups of players. As a consequence, the musicians were required to follow simpler, highly structured, written arrangements.
At the time, many musicians resented the lack of freedom to improvise and the reliance upon written arrangements, so they created bebop, a new style of Jazz. Bebop was vastly deferent than swing band music. It had faster tempos, complex harmonies, elaborate melodies and a rhythm section. According to _America’s Musical Landscape-? a typical bebop combo consisted of a trumpet, saxophone, double bass, piano, and percussion. Due in part to the smaller number of performing Caucasians, bebop music allowed for more freedom of expression and imagination than in big band music.
Improvisation was a key feature. While much of big band music was designed to indulge the audience’s desire to dance, bebop Jazz is for people who want to sit down and listen to the music. At first, many people enjoyed listening to bebop simply because it was something new and exciting. However, many people, particularly musicians, prefer bebop because of its sophistication and complexity. Some Jazz musicians felt they needed something different and preferred to play bebop Instead of swing Jazz to demonstrate their improvisational skills.
Musicians such as saxophonist, Dizzy Gillespie; trumpeter, Charlie Parker; and plants, Theologies Monk; stand out as examples of creative giants who through their virtuosity, were able to achieve an innovative sound that wound into their musical presentations, more important than dancing or chatting over simple background music. In a way, bebop was a new genre unto itself, more akin to Jazz than big band music. Because it is essentially the basis for most contemporary Jazz styles, listeners will hear the enduring influence of bebop in most Jazz forms that have followed it.
Progressive Jazz, cool Jazz, and hard bop are three styles to have evolved from bebop jazz. It is likely that these three Jazz styles, as well as others, embedded with the underlying roots of bebop will have an ongoing influence on future Jazz musicians. No one can speak for all musicians, many may prefer to play older well-established, classic Jazz, but certainly there are a substantial number of musicians that prefer playing the avian-garden styles, who will carry the flag of bebop for future generations.
Bebop was a revolutionary and exciting sound that changed the world of Jazz in the ass’s and continues to influence Jazz styles today. At its advent, bebop was a way for jazz musicians to break away from the confines of big band music, which did not allow for much improvisation or freedom of musical expression. Bebop pioneers such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Theologies Monk helped pave the way for other jazz musicians, allowing them to shed their restrictive chains of structured big band music and to elevate the level of improvisational genius that bebop allows.