Ball is Over, Time to Listen: Bebop and Beyond

1950’s New York City-The Big Band Swing Era has come to an end-Rock’n’Roll has replaced it as the music of

choice for young people, it is no longer as profitable as it once was to operate a Big Band

-a reaction amongst musicians has also taken place. The Big Band setting was never about featuring the art of the musicians as it was encouraging the audience to dance.

-for years now, musicians who loved to improvise would make money playing in big bands, but then after the shows were done, would retreat to late night jam sessions where they would improvise until the wee hours of the morning.

-the pioneers of bebop wanted to create a music for listening, not dancing. This will be their new form of artistic expression

Artistic Approach-music is made intentionally difficult to dance

to. Extremely fast tempos, incredibly syncopated melodies happen over harmonic changes often from “show tunes” or Big Band hits.

-musicians often compete to see who can improvise the best music on the bandstand. The losers are often booed from the stage in this highly competitive atmosphere

The Cuttin’ clubsLocated mostly in Greenwich Village, the artsy neighbourhood of New York City

Dizzy Gillespie -apparently invented the word Bebop

Dizzy is among the most recognizable faces in jazz

Finding this saxophone player was among his great accomplishments

Charlie “Bird” Parker

Originally from Kansas City.Eventually was able to “cut” the scene after much “woodshedding”

Went beyond what any saxophone player could do before

Greatest Jazz Band Ever“The Massey Hall Concert” arguably the

greatest jazz concert ever held featuring Gillespie, Parker, Roach, Mingus, Powell

Put together by a handful of Toronto Jazz fansOne night only, filling about half the concert

hall

But before he died he gave this trumpet player his start

Miles Davis

Learned from the bop greats, but then moved the music from there.

Miles was always working on the “next” thing.

And this album introduced….

John Coltrane

Again, a saxophone player going beyond where any player had gone before.

If Charlie Parker was Mozart, than Coltrane would be Beethoven