Bebop

The next major jazz style was bebop which lasted until about 1960. It was played in smaller groups and hardly in big bands. Bebop musicians improvised not so much the melody as the jazz musicians before, but the tune’s chords. Many bebop pieces were also played very quickly. The centre of bebop was Kansas City, where the greatest bebop musician, Charlie Parker , grew up.

At the same time as bebop came up in the Midwest hard bop emerged in the eastern cities. It was strong and full of energy and stressed the African American sound. The electric organ became a popular instrument and Miles Davis was one of the most famous beboppers of that time.

In the 1960s musicians started to look for other ways to improvise jazz. John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman became the greatest performers of free jazz, as it was called.Today jazz is played all over the world, in concert halls as well as in dark night clubs. Many of the world’s famous jazz festivals take place in Europe and Japan.

Saxophonist Charlie Parker was a leading performer of the bebop era
Image: William P. Gottlieb, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons