This column is all about the Bebop era. Fundamentally and simply put, Bebop, or Kansas City jazz as it was originally called, was and is a major component of all jazz music. Its origin dates back to the early 1940s; many people refer to it as swing. It was prominent in the movies of that wartime period, featuring great jitterbug dancers who were responsible for it becoming the hottest music of the day. As they say today, it was “trending.”
One of my favorite movies, “A League of Their Own,” features a great dance scene that typified the excitement generated by swing music (in that day). Go to YouTube and check out Swingdance in A League of Their Own. After that excerpt, type in Swing Time – Rogers and Astaire. The music is tamer, but the same swing characteristics prevail while the artists tap and swing dance, and wow, could they dance! Too bad “Dancing with the Stars” wasn’t around in their day! Actually, the steps they invented are rudimentary for today’s dancers. That was 70 years ago! That’s also when the big band era exploded, led by Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, etc. To me, the song that epitomizes the swing era is Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing featuring Harry James, Lionel Hampton, and Gene Krupa.
Let’s segue to the great Bebop players and bands of the following generation. Now we get to listen to the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Chet Baker, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans, who dominated the ’60s with their smaller ensembles. Spend some time listening to a few of the cuts by these great musicians, tunes like “So What,” “Around Midnight,” and Thelonius Monk’s “Straight No Chaser,” which is the title of a Clint Eastwood docudrama about Monk and Bebop. What you see and hear is truly Bebop. This is a jazz classic that is about an hour and a half in length, chock-full of performances by the Bebop stars, but the real star is Thelonius. Get lost in it.
Bebop modulated from only fast swing music to a mixture of slow, moody jazz. These players would gig and record with each other. They were the purists; fighting to get work any way they could because they were competing with the advent of rock and roll, which was preferred by the then-current generation.
Later came the deejays, and jazz was pushed to virtual oblivion, except for the older generations that clung to what they referred to as “good music.” Swing music has had periodic revivals, and jazz is extremely popular overseas in European and Asian countries. However, if you attend any concerts by jazz ensembles in U.S. schools, starting with middle schools through colleges, you will witness that jazz lives on. You still hear bebop and swing music around the world, but as Americans, we treasure it as our true art form.
