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Surveying Influential Bebop Musicians
Bebop began with saxophonists and trumpeters blowing red hot, speedy
lines that floated above equally fleet rhythm sections. Eventually, bop worked
its way into every format, from soloists to big bands, and was played on
every instrument. Bassists, drummers, guitarists, pianists — they all became
as inventive as horn players. Even vocalists began to bop. No matter what
kind of tone or range a musician had, he could fine ways to produce bebop’s
challenging new mode of improvisational jazz. I cover a variety of influential
bebop musicians in the following sections.
The early beboppers
Chapter 7: Bebop to Cool: The 1940s and 1950s
Although bebop veered sharply away from swing, many of bebop’s inventors
began their careers in big bands; for instance, saxophonist Charlie Parker
started with Earl Hines, and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie started with Cab
Calloway (for more about these big bands, see Chapter 6). Others from the
swing era who participated in the transition to bebop include the following:
� Jimmy Blanton: Blanton’s able hands transformed the bass from a basic
beat keeper into a versatile tool for improvising. He was one of the first
jazz players to use a bow (arco) instead of just plucking the strings
(pizzicato).
� Charlie Christian: He used one of the first electric jazz guitars to play
saxophonelike lines of improvisation.
� Roy Eldridge: Playing an essential part in the history of jazz trumpet,
Eldridge emerged as a leading swing era trumpeter with his own groups
and in bands led by Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw. His solos had the melodic
familiarity of swing, along with bebop’s breathtaking speed and surprising
selection of notes.
� Coleman Hawkins: After ten years with the Fletcher Henderson
Orchestra, Hawkins, a saxophonist, emerged as a leading soloist of the
small group era, spanning the transition from swing to bebop. His 1939
version of “Body and Soul” is considered a landmark performance that
signaled the beginning of bebop. He dispensed almost entirely with the
original melody to improvise one of his own over the original chords.
(See the nearby sidebar “Creating something new from the old” for
details on this technique.)
� Jo Jones: As the timekeeper in Count Basie’s big band Jones expanded
the drummer’s role by using all of his cymbals and drums to create multiple,
overlapping rhythms that contrasted with the rest of the band
instead of merely supporting it.
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