Bebop, also called bop, the first kind of modern
jazz, which split jazz into two opposing camps in the last half of the 1940s. It
was a style of jazz in
great contrast to the music of the big bands.The word is an onomatopoeic rendering of a staccato
two-tone phrase distinctive in this type of music. When it emerged, bebop was
unacceptable not only to the general public but also to many musicians. The
resulting breaches - first, between the older and younger schools of musicians
and, second, between jazz musicians and their public - were deep, and the
second never completely healed.
Whereas earlier jazz was essentially
diatonic (i.e., basing melodies and harmonies on traditional Western major and
minor 7-note scales comprising 5 whole and 2 half steps), much of the thinking
that informed the new movement was chromatic (drawing on all 12 notes of the
chromatic scale). Thus the harmonic territory open to the jazz soloist was
vastly increased.
Bebop took the harmonies of the old
jazz and superimposed on them additional "substituted" chords. It also broke up
the metronomic regularity of the drummer’s rhythmic pulse and produced solos
played in double time with several bars packed with 16th notes. The result was
complicated improvisation.
The development of bebop is attributed in
large part to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. The unique
styles of Gillespie and Parker contributed to and typified the bebop sound.
They experimented with unconventional chromaticism, discordant sounds, and
placement of accents in melodies. In contrast to the regular phrasing of big
band music, Gillespie and Parker often created irregular phrases of odd length,
and combined swing and straight eighth-note rhythms within the swing style. By
the mid-1950s musicians (Miles Davis and John Coltrane among others) began to
explore directions beyond the standard bebop vocabulary.
The Legends - Part Nine
John Coltrane
Born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina, John Coltrane (Trane) was
always surrounded by music. His father played several instruments sparking
Coltrane’s study of E-flat horn and clarinet. While in high school, Coltrane’s
musical influences shifted to the likes of Lester Young and Johnny Hodges
prompting him to switch to alto saxophone. He continued his musical training in
Philadelphia at Granoff Studios and the Ornstein School of Music. He was called
to military service during World War II, where he performed in the U.S. Navy
Band in Hawaii.
After a yearlong
stint in the Navy, Coltrane began playing gigs in and around
Philadelphia. During this time he became involved in drug and alcohol use,
vices that would follow him throughout his career and ultimately lead to his
death.
Prior to joining the Dizzy Gillespie band, Coltrane performed with
Jimmy Heath where his passion for experimentation began to take shape. However,
it was his work with the Miles Davis Quintet in 1958 that would lead to his own
musical evolution. "Miles music gave me plenty of freedom," he once
said. During that period, he became known for using the three-on-one chord
approach, and what has been called the "sheets of sound," a method of playing
multiple notes at one time.
In 1960 he formed his own group - The John Coltrane quartet - with Coltrane playing tenor saxophone, McCoy Tyler on
piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Jimmy Harrison on bass. It was during the
first years of this group that Coltrane graduated from an above-average tenor
saxophonist to an elite bandleader, composer, and improviser. "My Favorite
Things", the epic album featuring "Every Time We Say Goodbye", "Summertime",
"But Not For Me", and the title track, was recorded in 1960. This was
undoubtedly Coltrane's most successful and popular album, and granted him the
commercial success that had eluded him thus far in his career. Perhaps due to
this success, Coltrane's approach to his music began to shift during 1961-62,
moving towards a more experimental, improvisational style. This "free-jazz"
alienated many of the fans Coltrane had collected after "My Favorite Things",
but at the same time expanded the horizons and definition of jazz. Coltrane's continuing desire to break
new boundaries with his music, though, led to the end of the group in January
1966.
In 1967, liver
disease took Coltrane’s life leaving many to wonder what might have been. He
died of liver cancer, entering the hospital on a Sunday and expiring
in the early morning hours of the next day.
In 1965, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1972, "A Love Supreme" was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over half a million
copies in Japan. This album, as well as My Favorite Things, was certified gold
in the United States in 2001. In 1982, the RIAA posthumously awarded John Coltrane a Grammy Award of
" Best Jazz Solo Performance" for the work on his album, "Bye
Bye Blackbird".
In 1997 he received the organizations highest honor, the
Lifetime Achievement Award. On June 18, 1993 Mrs. Alice Coltrane received an invitation to The
White House from former President and Mrs. Clinton, in appreciation of John
Coltrane’s historical appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1995, John Coltrane was honored by the United States Postal Service
with a commemorative postage stamp. Issued as part of the musicians and
composers series, this collectors item remains in circulation. In 1999, Universal Studios and its recording division MCA Records
recognized John Coltrane’s influence on cinema by naming a street on the
Universal Studios lot in his honor. In
2001, The NEA and the RIAA released 360 songs of the Century. Among them was
John Coltrane’s "My Favorite Things."
Here is my top 10 of his compositions:
1. "My Favorite Things"
2. "Kind of Blue" (with Miles Davis)
3. "Equinox"
4. "Spiritual"
5. "In A Sentimental Mood" (with Duke Ellington)
6. "Every Time We Say Goodbye"
7. "Ruby, My Dear" (with Thelonious Monk)
8. "My One And Only Love" (with Johnny Hartman)
9. "But Not For me"
10. "Impressions"
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