Bebop music is a style of jazz characterized by its complex, unpredictable and experimental melodies. The genre emerged in the 1940s and 1950s as a full departure from the restricted sounds of big band music, another style of jazz.
Bebop music favors small ensembles of four to six players, unlike big-band music, which features groups made of ten or more musicians. Small bands allow for more solo opportunities and bebop jazz places an emphasis on player’s solos, which were unheard of with big band music. Bebop musicians interact with one another and frequently improvise songs, making jazz more personal and intimate.
With the advent of bebop music, jazz musicians became more like explorers, experimenters, and scientists than mere entertainers. These musicians tried to invent music that didn’t come naturally to the average musician.
Bebop borrows elements from both blues and swing music and blends those styles with its own unique sound. Bebop musicians place emphasis on the role of the rhythm section. Complex melodies and chord progressions, experimenting with the placement of accents of melodies, discordant sounds, use of the flatted fifth note, fast tempos, and unconventional chromaticism are all characteristics of this genre. Irregular phrasing and use of the walking bass are other common elements of this type of jazz.
Bebop is meant to be listened to rather than danced to. This type of music offers a more personal, eccentric sound than earlier styles of jazz, and engulfs listeners in an existential mood. With the advent of bebop music, jazz became music for the elite rather than music for the masses. This style of jazz became associated with intellectuals and intellectualism.
Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, drummer Max Roach and pianist Thelonious Monk were among the original developers of this new style. Bebop was everything that big band music wasn’t. Many bebop jazz artists considered big band musicians to be sell-outs and wanted to create a new inventive style of music. Bebop music was said to have started in Monroe’s Uptown House and Minton’s in New York City.
Bebop musicians also departed from the common fashions of other jazz styles. Unlike the suits worn by big band musicians, bebop artists favored outfits consisting of a hat and sunglasses, topped off with a goatee.
The term “bebop” was coined from the random, nonsensical speak of scat singing, though some bebop musicians referred to this new style of music simply as “modern jazz.”