Bebop

What it means

Bebop is a jazz style that emerged in New York in the 1940s and transformed jazz from primarily danceable entertainment music into a demanding, listener-focused art form. It is marked by fast tempos, complex and quickly changing chord progressions, and virtuosic, often chromatically enriched improvised lines.

Small groups of a few horns plus a rhythm section replaced the large dance orchestras of the swing era, giving soloists far more room to improvise.

Musical use

Among bebop's defining musicians were saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who together with other players developed the new style in New York clubs. Familiar song forms and blues schemes often served as the basis over which new, more complex melodies and harmonies were laid.

It should be distinguished from the preceding swing era, which favored danceability and larger ensembles, and from the later cool jazz, which pursued a calmer, more restrained sound ideal.

Performance practice

If you play or improvise bebop, first practice the underlying chord progressions slowly and cleanly before tackling the fast tempo. Pay attention to precise, often off-beat accents in the accompaniment and to melodic lines that deliberately use passing tones between chord tones.