Ted Gioia has stated in his book The History of Jazz that 'The ascendancy of

bebop inevitably invited challenges. A music so radical in its intentions, so open

in its defiance of conventions, almost demanded dramatic responses.' Discuss
how the jazz styles of the 1950s may be viewed as 'dramatic responses', paying
particular attention to the defining musical features of the styles.
So that we may qualify the above statement by Gioia I feel

it is necessary first

to look at those ways in which Bebop defied existing conventions within jazz at
the time and how it came to be seen as radical. From here I will look at other
styles and innovations that emerged within the jazz scene post bebop and by
comparative analysis will assess to what extent these styles can be viewed as
dramatic responses to Bebop. I will also use some examples from transcriptions
of Miles Davis work as they demonstrate and exhibit elements of all the styles
that arose in the 1950s. It is worth noting at this point that despite the
fragmentation of styles during the 50s these new innovations did not preclude
the existence of styles already in existence. Indeed in many cases with many of
these styles there is a lot of crossover however there are trends common to
each style and these will be explored throughout the course of this essay.
Bebop emerged as a result of several years of experimentation by a diverse
group of musicians who were not content to confine their creative efforts to
parameters set by the swing big bands of the 1930s. Compared with Bebop,
music of the swing era did not leave very much room for improvisation,
harmonically the style was limited using only triads, 7th chords, and diminished
and augmented chords with occasional use of chromaticism; rhythms were
stereotyped with relatively simple syncopations and melodies were tradition
bound generally sticking to the 4 and 8 measure of dance music. In response
to this, with Bebop we see longer more convoluted solo melodic lines played in
straight eighths fashion,with highly complex, altered chords and harmonies, and
a rhythmic interplay between the accompaniment instruments that had previously
been unheard of. Although the repertoire consisted largely of popular tunes that
contained challenging chord progressions, the melody or theme was often
abandoned in favour of the

musicians own inventions which were constructed

from the harmonic framework of the tune. This saw a greater emphasis on
technical virtuosity as the ability to negotiate complex structures in any given
key at frantic tempos became a pre-requisite for the bebop musician.
The exponents of Bebop sought to raise jazz to a status of art form as
opposed to that of a functional style of dance music like swing and in this

respect artistic endeavour took precedence over commercial success.

Consequently the ascendancy of this style tore the jazz world apart dividing
musicians and aficionados alike into warring camps with the left wing radical
champions of Bebop on one side and the right wing traditionalists on the other.
Popular acceptance of Bebop was slow in coming, however as an independent
means of expression for the jazz musician it continued to flourish and
eventually it became the lingua franca of jazz, a style in which every young jazz
musician found themselves involved with.
The first style to emerge after Bebop was known as cool jazz otherwise
referred to as west coast jazz. It diminished the hard swinging role of the
rhythm section typical of Bebop and de-emphasised technical virtuosity placing
more importance on lyricism. It was light and relaxed in feeling and thoughtful
and uncluttered in conception and as a writers style of jazz it was shaped as
much by the composers and arrangers as it was by the musicians. Compositions
tended to be longer and more complex and chord progressions and sequences
were composed as opposed to being borrowed from popular repertoire. Also
because parts were composed ,the use of counterpoint and polyphonic practices
that were more in keeping with traditional European classical harmony were
commonplace .There was also much more experimentation with sounds and
timbres and the use of non-standard jazz instruments such as French horns
,tubas ,flutes, e.t.c and unorthodox types of ensembles. As regards the actual
cool jazz sound its precedents were in the playing styles of musicians like
Lester Young whose light soft dry tone

coupled with his unique melodic and

rhythmic sensibilities pointed to a restrained and somewhat understated yet

tasteful

and extremely lyrical approach to playing. Many of the key exponents

of this style such as Stan Getz (tenor sax), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Gerry Mulligan
(baritone sax) and Miles Davis (trumpet) employed a light soft dry tone that
often hovered around the middle register. The first truly groundbreaking album
in this genre was the Miles Davis nonet group recording Birth of The Cool. If
we look at example 1 on the handout(.p.24-25)we can see a good example of
part writing and influence of European harmony in the changing time signatures
and the instrumentation. Its obvious from looking at this extract too that the
music has been composed and arranged and the parts are lyrical and could
easily be sung. These are just some of the trends that helped characterize cool
jazz.
Cool jazz later came to be known as West Coast jazz because many of its
prototypical exponents were either from, or moved out to California where life

moved at a much slower pace and where people were of a sunnier disposition.
This geographical element is very much reflected in the music as indeed the
name cool even connotes an emotional detachment.
Another sub-style born from this strain of jazz was third stream. Essentially it
was a combination of European classical elements, which was considered to be
the first stream, combined with elements of jazz ,considered to be the second
stream, to form a new hybrid style known as third stream. It was an attempt to
return to the concept of organizing jazz compositions and utilizing techniques
and devices found in the longer forms of European classical and contemporary
music. It shared many similarities with cool jazz but on a much more profound
level. As a style it was much more cerebral and complex and was an attempt to
bridge the gap between jazz and the classics. Some might class the album Time
Out by the Dave Brubeck quartet as third stream given its use of irregular
time signatures and compositional style. Nevertheless with the rise of the avant
garde and hard bop, which displayed a spontaneity and extrovertism that
pseudo classical works lacked, it did not become a dominant musical force and
as a movement was short lived, never really catching on beyond academic
circles.
Another major style to emerge during the 50s was Hard Bop. It saw an
aggressive return to Bebop concepts with a more direct approach to hot
phrases and rhythms. It retained the speed and intensity of Bebop yet with
more of a blues and gospel influence in terms of harmony and rhythm. Due to
this blues and gospel influence, forms and structures tended to be simpler than
that of Bebop and especially that of third stream. Melodies were simpler yet
more soulful and the raw hard driving pulse with emphasis on consistent
swinging coupled with darker tone colours give it a weightier solemn edge.
Rhythmically it was more varied as the rhythm section was often freed up more
from the confines of the standard four beats to the bar. These characteristics
were first apparent in the playing styles of Clifford Brown (trumpet),

Harold

Land (tenor sax) and the bands of Art Blakey and pre- cursors to this style
were evident in the playing of Dexter Gordon(tenor sax), Sonny Stitt(tenor sax),
Charlie Parker(tenor sax), Fats Navarro(trumpet) and Miles Davis(trumpet).
Finally the last important style to emerge during the late 50s was Modalism.
Modalism minimzed the fast frantic chord changes of Bebop for a more static,
simplified chord structure that hung on one chord for considerable lengths ,as
many as sixteen bars at a time even. Unlike all the styles prior, it flew in the
face of tonal harmony. In tonal harmony chord progressions are relative to the

key of a piece and musicians will often improvise using scales that are relative
to the overall key. In Modalism however chords are selected purely on how
they sound and do not serve a functional purpose. Chords are not related in a
key context and musicians improvise using scales or modes to fit the chord as
each new chord has the potential to suggest a different key or scale. Also the
perfect fourth interval was favoured due to its tonally ambiguous character. A
good example of modalism is the tune So What? by Miles Davis of his album
Kind Of Blue(see handout) .This tune is conceived using the Dorian mode with
the bassline given the melody. The whole tune consists of two chords going
from Dm7 in the A section to Ebm7 in the B section and both the tonic notes
of these chords are underpinned by their prominence in the bass melody. There
are no functional chords or cadences and instead the whole tune is purely a
vehicle for melodic improvisation. The album Kind Of Blue truly was a
groundbreaking album when it was released as every tune on it is modally
conceived and in the true spirit of jazz completely improvised.
In summary then we can say for certain that there were at least three major
new styles of jazz that emerged during the 1950s and each with a distinct set
of trends and tendencies that characterized the music. They were:
Cool Jazz/ West Coast Jazz
1. Restraint- solos curtailed to an extent, ensembles thinned out, volume
decreased, mid tonal range employed, use of musical space, softer and
quieter dynamically
2. Lyricism- less jagged intervals ,more melodic singable lines
3. Composition/Arrangment- generally part composed and arranged ,use of
counterpoint, polyphonic lines, etc.
4. Metre- less frantic, generally slower relaxed pace

Hard Bop
1. Blues and Gospel Influenced repertoire- led to simpler structures,
simpler melodic lead lines, less identical to pop forms employed in
Bebop
2. Rhythmic variety- freed up from the standard 4 beats to the bar and
less of a start/stop quality typical of Bebop
3. Darker tone qualities- combined with rhythm gives the music a more
solemn edge

4. Metre- retains the emphasis on hard driving insistent rhythm typical of

Bebop

Modalism
1. Slow Moving Harmonic Rhythm Chord changes less frequent
2. Drones/Pedal notes- use of static bass notes to establish a sense of
tonal centre
3. Non-functional Harmonic Movement- very little harmonic movement by way
of cadence points such as V-I progressions or ii-V-I typically found in
other styles of jazz
4. Quartal Harmony- the use of the perfect 4th interval is employed for its
exotic and tonally ambiguous qualities

Although all of the tendencies outlined above were not apparent in every tune
within its respective genre these were nevertheless general trends common to
these jazz styles. By generalizing in this way about these styles it enables us to
come to a conclusion as to how these were viewed in regards to Bebop music.
From looking at the previous examples and the defining characteristics of each
new development its easy to see how cool jazz could be viewed as a dramatic
response to Bebop as the characteristics of cool jazz show it to be the
complete antithesis of Bebop. Hard Bop was perhaps not so much a response
to Bebop but rather another strain of it and one that was still very much a part
of that tradition. Rather Hard Bop could be viewed as a reaction to cool jazz
in its effort to reinstate Bebop concepts within the mainstream of jazz. Finally
Modalism could be viewed as not only a reaction towards Bebop but towards
harmonic practices and conventions that up until that point permeated all styles
of jazz.
In spite of all this Bebop music opened the floodgates for inspiration to a
generation of young musicians by enriching and enlarging the harmonic, melodic
and rhythmic possibilities within jazz music. In this respect it could be argued
that all of these styles arose from a response to Bebop by musicians who in
one way or another were inspired by Bebop and who sought to explore
harmonic ,melodic and rhythmic possibilities so as to find an alternative to it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.

Berendt, Joachim- Ernst. ed.(1978). The Story Of Jazz: From New

Orleans To Rock Jazz. Barrie and Jenkins Ltd ,London

2. (2002) Miles Davis : Birth of the Cool. Hal Leonard. New York
3. Hodeir, Andre.( 1975). Jazz: Its Evolution and Its Essence. Da Capo
Press. New York.

4. Tirro, Frank. ed .(1993). Jazz: A History 2nd ed. W.W. Norton &
Company. 500 Fifth Avenue. New York