Bebop Story: A Musical Revolution That Radically Changed the Road of Jazz

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Imported from Europe!

Bebop marked the beginning of Modern Jazz – a musical and technical revolution and the first example of Jazz as an “art” form. New harmonic structures coupled with improvising at a fast tempo together with “hip” outfits like big, thick-rimmed glasses, “Zoot suits” and “goatee” beards – those were bebop’s trademarks. Bebop was developed at the Harlem Club Minton’s Playhouse. Black musicians met there to jam after they had finished their routine in a band. Tired of playing swing standards, they were looking for new possibilities to express themselves in their music. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were the key figures, attracting other musicians. Pianist Thelonious Monk and drummer Kenny Clarke were there as a rule because they were members of the house band. Among the musicians who helped to lift jazz to new hights was pianist Bud Powell, who appeared at Minton’s as a very young man, when he was just seventeen, for the first time. His playing reminded admirers of the flowing melodies on Charlie Parker’s alto.

The new music was mainly disseminated via concerts and found a rapidly growing crowd of fans. When bebop conquered Europe, the big music companies finally saw their chance.

It is quite natural that the works of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker dominate the recordings of the bebop era. Both can be heard on many titles under their own names and as participants in live concerts. They often performed with Jazz At The Philharmonic, organized by Norman Granz, and played in the company of jazz greats such as Lester Young, Oscar Peterson, Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge. The impresario Gene Norman also organized bebop concerts and produced the recordings under his label Just Jazz. Many concerts were recorded on the American Westcoast, featuring musicians like Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan and Wardell Gray.

First there were only black musicians experimenting in Minton’s Playhouse, but in the course of time white musicians arrived, listened and picked up new harmonies and tones. Musicians like Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn and Kai Winding became protagonists of a white bebop, and many recordings demonstrate that all the outstanding musicians speak the same language.