Category: Bebop

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Dizzy Gillespie (The development of Jazz 9/11)

Dizzy (John Birks) Gillespie was born on 21 October 1917 in Cheraw (South Carolina, U.S.) and he died on 6 January 1993 In Englewood (New Jersey, U.S.). His father was the leader of a local band. At the age of four, he started playing the piano. After his father’s death, he was 10 at the time, he skilled himself on trombone and trumpet. 

1930s

After hearing Roy Eldridge play on the radio, he aspired to a career in jazz. From 1935, he played professionally in various orchestras. In Teddy Hill’s band, he made his first record, the ‘King Porter Stomp'(1937). This ‘jazz standard’ was recorded many times after that. You can listen to the song here, played on a classic gramophone:

A technically improved reissue from1994 can be found here. A ‘stomp’ is a specific repetition of chords and is deployed in many melodies.  Here you can hear it and probably youbrecognize the ‘stomp’.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Stomp_progression_block_chords_F.mid

1940s -1950s

From 1939, Gillespie was part of Cab Calloway’s orchestra that played at the Cotton Club in Harlem at the time.  With this orchestra, Gillespie records his first composition “Pickin’ the Cabbage”(1940). Listen to the original recording here.

After an argument, Calloway fired Gillespie. He blamed him for misplaced humor and, moreover, thought his solos were too adventurous. ‘Chinese music’, Calloway called them. Later, Calloway would make repeated use of Gillespie’s virtuosity. After his dismissal, he wrote and arranged music for various bands, including those of Woody Herman, Jimmy Dorsey and Ella Fitzgerald. However, new opportunities presented themselves. 

First, he joins Earl Hines band and then Billy Eckstine’s band, of which Charlie Parker was also a member. In these bands, his contribution to the development of bebop came to fruition and Gillespie became the face of this genre. 

During this time, Gillespie brings several compositions to his name, such as ‘A Night in Tunisia’ (1942, recorded here in 1981), ‘Groovin’High‘ (1947), Woody ‘n’ You’ (1944), ‘Salted Peanuts’  (performed here by Dizzie Gillespie and his Orchestra in 1946). These songs are substantially different from mainstream swing music in melodic and rhythmic terms. ‘Woody ‘n’ You’, a tribute to Woody Herman, is one of the earliest examples of bebop. You can listen to this song here in a performance by the WDR Big Band from 2023.

During these years, Gillespie played in several small ensembles and formed several big bands.  With one of these, he records the film ‘Jivin’ in Be-Bop’ in 1947. Watch and listen to a clip ‘Bebop Dancers’ here, which shows that fast-paced bebop requires special dancing skills. The film consists of a sequence of song and dance numbers, with no further plot.

The band ‘Gillespie and his Bee Bop Orchestra’ played an important role in broadening the popularity of bebop. At the fourth ‘Cavalcade of Jazz’ in 1948, he was announced with the words, “the musicianship, inventive technique, and daring of this young man has created a new style, which can be defined as off the chord solo gymnastics.”

Since the sound cup of his trumpet had become bent during a party 45o, he always played on such a type of trumpet because he liked the sound.

1960s – 1970s

Gillespie met South American trumpeter Mario Bauzá, with whom he performed together in various jazz clubs in Harlem. Gillespie becomes an aficionado of Afro-Cuban jazz, which was popular for its danceable nature. With his compositions ‘Manteca‘ and ‘Tin Tin Deo’, Gillespie himself also contributed to Afro-Cuban jazz. On a jazz cruise to Havana, he met Arturo Sandoval and together they toured Europe with the United Nations Orchestra. Here is a recording in Havanna in 1985 in which Gillespie and Sandoval play ‘Night in Tunisia’:

1980s/90s

In the musical ‘Stevie Wonder’, he played the trumpet solo in the song ‘Do I Do’. He wrote the soundtrack for the film ‘The Winter in Lisboa’. You can watch that now. 

In December 1991, Gillespie was diagnosed as suffering from pancreatic cancer. He abruptly cancels his tour but succeeds in recording another album in early 1992. In December that year, a grand celebration of his 75ste birthday took place, but he could not attend it himself due to his poor health. He died on 6 January 1993.

He is considered one of the best jazz trumpeters of all time.

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Fusion and smooth jazz: blending jazz with other music styles (The development of jazz 5/11)

Jazz musicians also like to listen to rock, pop or classical music. If these styles inspire some musicians is obvious. They had another reason to go the way of fusion, namely to make jazz more accessible to a wider audience and possibly achieve commercial success. Fusion and smooth jazz blend seamlessly. The examples in this episode show that making music that is easy on the ear and at the same time maintaining the melodic and harmonic principles of jazz is feasible. With smooth jazz, the emphasis is a bit more on the first premise. 

The best-known fusion artist is Miles Davis. Others include Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, vibraphonist Gary Burton, drummer Tony Williams, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, guitarists Larry Coryell, also called the godfather of fusion, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and bassists Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke.

Here you can listen to Miles Davis playing the pop song ‘Time After Time’ (1985).

In his album Bitches Brew (1969), Davis largely abandons swing beat and uses rock and roll idiom. The album mixes free jazz horns with an ensemble featuring electronic keyboards, guitar and percussion. He sold 400,000 albums, four times his annual average. In the same year, he released his album In a Silent Way (1969), which is considered his first fusion album.[12] Almost all of the aforementioned musicians collaborated on it.

Jazz and rock

The most used form of fusion is a ‘crossover’ between jazz and rock. Bridges between these genres have been built from both sides. An older example is the Charles Lloyd Quartet with Keith Jarrett, among others, which went down this route from the late 1960s. You can see here a recent recording by the quartet (now without Keith Jarrett) of the composition ‘Dream Weaver’.

Yet initially, it was mostly rock groups that mixed jazz and rock. Examples include: Colosseum (Take Me Back to Doomsday, 1970), Chicago (Tanglewood, 1970), Blood, Sweat & Tears (God Bless This Child, 1973), Soft Machine (Switzerland, 1974), Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Gratefull Death (October, Winterland, 1974), The Allman Brothers, In Memory of Elisabeth Reed, 1970). Santana (Evil Woman, 1969), Jimi Hendrix (Voodo Child, 1970), King Krimson (Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, 1972) and most recently Ozric Tentacles (Epiphilioy, 2016) Every song is worth listening to! From Emerson, Lake & Palmer, hear now: Mussorgsky – Pictures At An Exhibition,1970)

Emerson Lake & Palmer have been called the most pretentious ‘progressive rock’ group ever, because of their ever more overwhelming stage presence. At their peak, they took 40 tons of equipment and sometimes a 50-piece choir.

These were rock bands with above-average artistic pretensions and often referred to as progressive rock, which were inspired by jazz. Progressive rock already some characteristics of jazz, such as an affinity for long solos, divergent time signatures and complex rhythms and melodies. 

While the days of ‘progressive rock’ were long gone, fusion between jazz and rock remained popular, with musicians such as Pat Metheny (Jaco, 1977), John Abercrombie (Timeless, 2021), John Scofield (Live, Leverkusener Jazztage, 2023), the Swedish group e.s.t. (Behind The Yashmak, here with Pat Metheny, 2003), Brad Mehldau (Live in Montreal, 2023) and The Bad Plus (Live Moers festival, 2017). The latter two have explored contemporary rock music within the possibilities of the traditional acoustic jazz piano trio, recording instrumental jazz versions of rock songs. Here, The Bad Plus plays Confortable Numb by Pinkfloyd with vocals by Wendy Lewis. You can watch the Brad Mehldau trio perform Hello Joe by Jimmie Hendrix here:

By the way, Brad Mehldau is considered one of the best jazz pianists of the 21ste century.  He has been nominated for a Grammy Award every year since 2013, one of which he finally won in 2020 for his album “Finding Gabriel”.

Jazz and soul

Soul jazz is an outgrowth of hard bob with influences from soul, blues and rhythm & blues. The Hammond organ plays an important role. Compared to hard bop, soul jazz has a more ‘earthy and bluesy’ character that invited dancing. Soul jazz quickly moved towards smooth jazz.

Some prominent names include: Cannonball Adderly (‘Work song’, 1963), Lee Morgan (‘The sidewinder’, 1963), Frank Foster (‘Samba blues’, 1963), Horace Silver (‘Song for my father’ ( 1964), Ramsey Lewis (‘The ‘in’crowd (1965, recording 1973), which became a hit and artists like Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and later the ‘Norwegian’ style of Bugge Wesseltoft. But here, too, fusion and smooth jazz are close to each others.

Finally, worth mentioning is the Cinematic Orchestra, which combines (classical) jazz, soul and the use of electronics, including turntables, in tuneful productions.

You can watch and listen to two songs of various kinds “To build a home” (sung by Patrick Watson) and “Breath” (sung by Fontella Bass), both live from the Barbican in London in 2007. You can listen to the latter track here.

The Cinematic Orchestra’s music has found its way to audiences through albums and performances but especially because of its frequent use in documentaries and (feature) films. 

Jazz and funk

Fusion was not limited to jazz, rock or soul. Herbie Hancock sought a crossover between jazz and funk. An example is his album Head Hunters (1973). It was already his 12de album, mar with it he broke through artistically and commercially.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=reCo-EfiuD8%3Fsi%3DkG7u9ErqgVvpCYj0%26start%3D53

Hancock had already begun to push the boundaries of hard bop. His first album, for instance, contained the song ‘Watermelon Man’(1962) featuring his tight funky piano playing. Miles Davis also made a foray into jazz funk, notably his album ‘On the Corner'(1972. This was an attempt on his part to narrow the gap with young African-Americans.

Characteristic of jazz funk is the strong backbeat (fourth beat). And the already early introduction of electronic synthesizers. 

As in the case of jazz rock, jazz’s hardliners reacted with aversion and talked about jazz for the dance halls. Nevertheless, the album Head Hunters was a significant moment in the development of jazz. It inspired jazz musicians, as well as funk, soul and hip-hop artists. It also stimulated the further use of synthesizers as a tool in the fusion genre. 

Smooth jazz

Many jazz musicians who chose fusion also wanted to increase the acceptance of their music, hence the  transition between fusion and smooth jazz is gradual.

Features:

– Most songs are ‘downtempo’ (90-105 counts per minute) 

– The melody is usually played by just one instrument.  This is usually a saxophone or an electric guitar.

– Smooth jazz often shuns improvisation and emphasizes a melodic whole. This is why commercially oriented ‘would be’ jazz is often referred to disparagingly.

Guitarist Wes (Leslie) Montgomery laid the foundations for smooth jazz in the last years of his still young life (he died in 1968 at the age of 45), making music that appealed to both jazz and pop lovers. Before that, he mainly played (hard) bop. Examples include ‘Here Is That  Rainy Day‘ (1965). ‘Full House‘ and ‘Round Midnight’, which you can watch and listen to below.

By the early 1980s, much of the original fusion genre had been subsumed into other branches of jazz and rock, especially smooth jazz, which included a rapidly growing number of artists. These include Gerge Benson Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and Sade, as well as saxophonists such as Grover Washington Jr, Kenny G, Kirk Whalum, Boney James and David Sanborn.

Pluralism

Since the 1990s, jazz has been characterized by a pluralism, with a wide range of styles, genres and blends, each with its own fans. Fusion occupies an important place here. The style has brought together a multitude of genres, bringing back the jazz audience, mainly thanks to the combination of melody and rhythm.

From the beginning of the 21ste century, jazz has become a distinct and popular type of music more than before. A number a young musicians are making themselves heard, including pianists Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Terence Blanchard in the US.

In the UK, these were Sons of Kemet, Shabaka Hutchings, Ezra Collective and Moses Boyd.

Established jazz musicians like Wayne Shorter, John Scofield, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, Olga Konkova, Christian McBride, Per Mathisen and supergroup Snarky Puppy integrating conventional instruments and electronics. You can watch and listen to the latter here.

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Bebop and cool jazz (The development of jazz 3/11)

Stan Getz and Chet Baker (1983)

Band members had been drafted into the army and they were replaced by young players, like Stan Getz, who was still a teenager, dance venues had to pay more entertainment taxes and closed their doors, and conflicts arose over royalties. But more importantly, a growing number of musicians were dissatisfied with the commercially motivated artistic demise of (big band) jazz.

Dissatisfaction with mainstream jazz

The music they made was not for dancing, but for listening (“musicians’ music”). They established small ensembles, usually consisting of saxophone (alto or tenor), trumpet, piano, guitar, double bass and drums. This musical development . I’ll show you an example of what it sounded like. It is Allen’s Ally (song by Coleman Hawkins (1946) played by Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt in 1958

Characteristics of bebop

Practitioners of bebop set high artistic standards and had to be proficient with their instrument. The main characteristics of bebop are:

 – A piece of music has a wider collection of sounds than a usual melody line. 

– The sequence of notes forms a complex pattern, dissonances were not shunned.

– The tempo is fast; sometimes up to 200 counts per minute. Go dance to that!

– The rhythm section often connects the different improvisations, or they flow into each other through a kind of dialogue.

– Starting points for new songs are sometimes themes borrowed from existing pieces of music extended with complex harmonies.

– The original theme is often played at the beginning and at the end, with improvisations by all band members alternating in between. 

Artists

Key figures of this genre included alto saxophonist Charlie Parker; tenor saxophonists Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and James Moody; clarinetist Buddy DeFranco; trumpeters Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie; pianists Bud Powell, Barry Harris and Thelonious Monk; electric guitarist Charlie Christian; and drummers Kenny Clarke, Max Roach and Art Blakey.

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie recorded one of the first bebop records with the Billy Beckstine Orchestra in 1944. You can still hear many features of big band jazz in this, but the melody is more complicated.

Jazz standards

Standards composed by bebop musicians include: Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts” (1941) and “A Night in Tunisia” (1942; recording 1981), Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite” (1946) and “Scrapple  from  the Apple” (1947), and Monk’s “‘Round Midnight“, currently the most recorded jazz standard composed by a jazz musician. You can listen here to Parker’s “Anthropologie” (1946), played by the NDR big band in 2020, Parker’s 100ste birthday.

Audience reception

The prevailing opinion of the public was that bebop no longer is music, which you listen to with pleasure, but consisted of runaway, nervous, erratic and often fragmented sounds, in which hardly any melody can be recognised. Nor did most jazz musicians see in bebop the promised restoration of the artistic level of jazz. After all, listeners need to experience artistry, and artistry is much more than virtuosity.

From bebop to cool jazz 

Charlie Parker and Miles Davis performed together as bebop musicians from 1944 – 1948, but Miles Davis began to feel increasingly uneasy with the songs they were playing. He formed a band of his own and experimented for two years with like-minded colleague. They felt that their music should contain a rich palette of harmonies. The sounds of the wind instruments had to blend rather than oppose each other. They also reduced the tempo. Eventually, this experimentation did lead to a trend-setting album, “The birth of the cool”, in 1957.  The recordings were made by a ‘nonet’ (a nine-piece band). The full recording of this album can be listened to here. Below you will find a recording of one of the songs, “Venus of Milo” composed by Gerry Mulligan, played by the Frankfurt Radio Big Band.

Characteristics of cool jazz

– The pieces are more strongly arranged and contain less improvisation than was the case with bebop.

– As with bebop, existing themes are often starting points; they are sometimes borrowed from classical works.

– Nervous energy and tension of bebop gives way to a tendency towards calmness and softness through the choice of long, linear melodic lines.

– The interplay of instruments is mainly focused harmony, rather than melody.

– Strives for brighter tones, subtlety and learning from other musical genres.

Chet Baker

Chat Baker, singer and trumpeter, is considered a great innovator within cool jazz and was dubbed the “Prince of Cool” for it. He joined Gerry Mulligan’s quartet in 1952. They developed a unique style: Instead of playing identical melody lines as solos, both complemented each other by anticipating what the other was going to play. He also received rave reviews in the 1950s for his singing, for instance here on his record “It could happen to you” (1958) 

His musical career was erratic (see the episode dedicated to him in this series) and was interrupted by long periods of drug addiction and imprisonment. He picked up his career again in late 1970.

Top of the list of 1930s jazz standards is the song “My Funny Valantine”, from the musical “Babes”. This song appears on more than 1,300 albums and has been performed by 600 different artists. One of the most intriguing versions is Chat Baker’s (1987) one year before his death. You can listen to this one now.

Modern Jazz Quartet

A special contribution to the development of cool jazz was made by the Modern Jazz Quartet, also because of its unusual composition: piano, vibraphone, bass and drums.  The four original members formed the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie’s band in the late 1940s. This group created its own niche in the cool jazz movement. They played elegant, understated music that often involved classical fugues.  You can hear that here in the 1956 song Django on the album of the same name, named after Belgian jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. 

Others who contributed to cool jazz were Dave Brubeck, Bill & Gill Evans, Stan Getz and John Coltrane. Charlie Parker also started playing more melodically in the 1950s 

On the following episodes

From the 1950s, the number variants within and between  genres increased. The coming episode of this series  will deal with three trends, some of which occurred and are still occurring in parallel, each encompassing different genres. The first is the creation of music with a minimum of melodic and harmonic conventions. We then speak of avant-garde or free jazz (issue 4/11). The second is seeking enrichment through crossovers to other musical styles, ranging from pop, blues, funk, hip hop and others. We summarise this under the name fusion (episode 5/11). The third trend is the search for the assumed true nature of jazz. I summarise these attempts under the name back to basics (episode 6/11). 

Incidentally, you will come across some musicians in every genre. These are musicians who constantly sought innovation such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane.