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Chapter 23:
Music in America:
Jazz and Beyond
Later Jazz
Key Terms
Bebop
Jazz-rock
Fusion
Later Jazz
The popularity of big bands collapsed
suddenly after World War II
• They became too expensive to run
• Entertainment styles changed – rhythm and
blues & rock’n’roll were on the rise
Jazz styles changed as well
• Revolutionary new jazz style appeared during
the war – bebop
Bebop (1)
Early 1940s a discouraging time for young
black jazz musicians
• White players got most big band jobs
• Little improv possible when they did get work
• Commercial bands seemed to have sucked the
life-blood out of jazz
These musicians gathered after-hours
• Hammered out a new style in jam sessions at
clubs in Harlem
• This style would later be called bebop
Bebop (2)
Bebop emphasized solo improvisation
• Small combos typical – more opportunities for
improvisation
• Often just a trumpet & saxophone with rhythm
section – piano, bass, drums
Bebop demanded technical virtuosity
• Everything was super-fast – tempo, rhythms,
chord changes, sharp snap rhythms, etc.
• Used complex harmonies in “far out” manner
• Difficult, fantastical, wide-ranging melodies
Charlie Parker
(1920-1955)
Bebop’s greatest genius
Alto saxophonist; nicknamed “Bird”
Bird & Dizzy Gillespie helped create bebop
He became a legend in his lifetime
But he could not overcome his demons
On drugs from the age of 15, suicide attempt,
six months in a California mental institution,
uncontrollable eating & drinking in later years
• Died at the age of 34
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Parker, Out of Nowhere (1)
A popular song in 32-bar A A’ form
Recorded live in a New York club in 1948
Starts with “straight” version of tune
Parker, Out of Nowhere (2)
Solo choruses feature trumpet, sax, piano
• Miles’ solo has typical bright bop sound, rapid
passage work, & piercing high notes
• Parker’s sax solo develops the tune’s opening
motive with increasingly elaborate, irregular
phrases & a bit of an Irish jig
Last chorus is like the first, with brief coda
Jazz after Bebop
With bebop, the avant-garde came to jazz
• Emancipation of melody, harmony, tonality
Many new jazz styles followed
• Cool jazz, free jazz, modal jazz, Afro-Cuban
jazz, electric jazz, avant-garde jazz, etc.
The leaders were as diverse as the styles
• Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John
Coltrane, Ornette Coleman
• They were the first to improvise freely – with no
song, blues, or chord changes as a basis
Miles Davis
(1926-1991)
One of the greatest jazz innovators
• As improviser, composer, & bandleader
• Started out playing bop with Charlie Parker
• Pioneered cool jazz with Gil Evans – Birth of
the Cool (1949-50)
• Pioneered modal jazz with John Coltrane –
Kind of Blue (1959)
• Moved toward free jazz with Wayne Shorter &
Herbie Hancock – Sorcerer, Nefertiti (1967)
• Pioneered jazz-rock (fusion) with Joe Zawinul &
John McLaughlin – Bitches Brew (1969)
Fusion
Jazz’s popularity faded in the 1960s
• Rock’s popularity soared, especially with youth
• Miles & others sought to bring rock’s energy &
directness into jazz
Jazz-rock, or fusion, emerged
• Combined elements of rock & jazz
• Turned to rock instruments – electric guitar,
electric bass, electric piano, synthesizer
• Straight-ahead rock beat replaced swing feel
Davis, Bitches Brew
Miles’ most successful fusion album
• Sold hundreds of thousands of copies to both
rock & jazz listeners
Miles used a larger ensemble than usual
• Trumpet, soprano sax, bass clarinet
• Huge rhythm section – electric guitar, electric
bass, acoustic bass, 2 auxiliary percussion,
and up to 3 keyboards & 2 drummers
• Used Echoplex to alter trumpet’s sound
Used rock rhythms & Motown bass licks
Bitches Brew (part)
4 minute excerpt from 27 minute title track
Music ebbs & flows over rocklike electric
bass ostinato & drum riffs
• Builds from meditative, melancholy mood to
wild, free climax & sinks back down
Extended solo for Miles
• Uses ever more elaborate patterns, then snaps,
a free high-register ostinato, & trumpet squeals
• Supported by constantly changing figures from
electric guitar, electric piano, & percussion
• Polyrhythms similar to Yoruba drumming
Bebop Overview
c. 1944-50 – influenced many later styles
Favored small combos – trumpet, sax
• Rhythm section – piano, bass, drums
Emphasized virtuoso solo improvisation
• Complex melodies, chord, & rhythms , often
played at breakneck speed
• Afro-Cuban rhythms & instruments used
• Humor – scatting, quotation, surprise accents
• Based on popular songs (32-bar aaba)
Parker & Davis, Out of Nowhere
Cool Overview
c. 1949-55 – Bebop’s opposite
“Cool” – understated & thoughtful
• Classical influence, especially impressionism
• Pastel colors & light, straight (no vibrato) tone
• Orchestral conception – added flute, oboe,
French horn, oboe, vibraphone, etc.
• Focus on arrangement, less improvisation
• Sophisticated, flexible treatment of phrases &
form – based on advanced harmonies
Bernstein, West Side Story, “Cool”
Jazz after Bebop Overview
Many new styles explored after 1950
• Hard bop, modal jazz, free jazz, fusion
New techniques for simultaneous improv
New structures (or none at all) substitute
for pre-existing songs or chord changes
Electronic instruments added; expanded
percussion & winds
Influence of popular styles, especially rock
& funk
Miles Davis, Bitches Brew