Jazz has continued to evolve over the years as musicians innovate and make different sub-genres and sounds. From smooth cool jazz to swing and bebop, the rhythm, tone, and speed of the music has changed considerably. Jazz bands have also seen increases and decreases in their size with every decade or so. But none of these changes stand out quite as much as bebop, which changed jazz forever.
The End of the War
Swing music dominated the 1930s with its funky yet controlled beats. Artists like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong continued to experiment with the genre. But when World War II started, it very much put an end to swing music. And even though many bands would still perform swing music after the war, it would soon be overshadowed by Bebop music.
Developed in the 1940s following the end of the war, what stood out about bebop was its lack of control. Unlike smooth, blue, or cool jazz that was very much tempered, musicians held nothing back when performing.
Moving Past Swing
Swing had very carefully composed sections, with parts of improvisations called solos. On the other hand, bebop would only have the main theme that the band would follow, which they would then improvise.
Musicians would usually take well-known chord progressions and add unique melodies to them. So even though bebop still made use of the blues, musicians would play their instruments at a much faster tempo. This brought the music to life and gave it the feel of modern jazz.
Bebop would further evolve to a state where soloists never concerned themselves with lyricism. Instead, they started to move on to creating complex harmonies using their instruments. They were also looking to make their songs much less predictable by making their solos more complex.
The Rise of Modern Jazz
While bebop was still a very new style, it had completely dominated the genre. In fact, it only took another decade for bebop and jazz to be used interchangeably. Even in modern times, jazz is synonymous with improvisation, which came about much later in its life span.
The name bebop itself is a reference to its accented melodic lines. And while some people at the time, and even now, refer to it as stop, musicians rarely ever called it that. They would simply refer to it as modern jazz, which turned out to be a very fitting name.
The 1940s saw the rise of the loud quartets or quintets that were uncontrolled. But by the 1950s, Miles Davis would take the innovative blueprint of bop and add softer elements to it. This softer and more laid-back style of jazz would eventually become West Coast cool jazz. Other musicians were experimenting with hard bop, which added gospel music and blues elements. It was even evolving during the 1980s when the acoustic bop jazz style came around. It goes without saying that Bop has had a lasting impact on the genre. It would go on to create various sub-genres and would influence the careers of many big-name artists.
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