
Bebop (Bop) 8
A heightened level of interaction between performers-especially during improvisation-also emerged in early bebop practice. In her influential book Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction (1996), Ingrid Monson uses the linguistic metaphor of "conversation" to describe the interactivity typical of bebop. This interactivity is supported in part by expanding instrumental performance practices that emerged in the early and mid-1940s. The piano accompaniment for soloists became more varied, communicative, and in dialogue with the emergent, real-time structure of solos. Bop pianists such as Monk, Powell, Al Haig, Tadd Dameron, Sadik Hakim, Duke Jordan, and John Lewis developed highly personalized comping styles that have remained influential among contemporary jazz pianists. The following videos of "Round Midnight", "Blues in the Closet", and "Groovin' High" will give the reader/listener an idea of how these pianists' comping styles differ.

'Round Midnight - Thelonious Monk, Poland, 1966 (3/5) [ 00:00-00:00 ]

Kenny Clark & Bud Powell Blues in the Closet [ 00:00-00:00 ]

James Moody,alto sax, Al Haig,piano, Ray Brown,bass, Kenny Clarke,drums."Groovin' High" [ 00:00-00:00 ]
The performance practice of the drum set also expanded tremendously during the early years of bebop. Although basic swing-style eighth notes continued to function as the basis of many jazz drum grooves, the snare drum, bass drum, and general level of interaction with other members of groups were transformed by early bebop drummers, principally Kenny Clarke. Clarke played the bass drum in a looser, more spontaneous and improvised fashion, using it and the snare drum to accent and encourage soloists.
Clarke also introduced the phenomenon of the "bomb," a sudden load accent from the drum set intended to catalyze and encourage group energy and interaction. These are all seen and heard in the 1962 live performance by Kenny Clark.

Kenny Clarke con F. & F. Ambrosetti "No Details" [ 00:00-00:00 ]
Bebop musicians also recreated jazz standards by modifying chord structures and replacing recognizable melodies with highly complex, technically dazzling improvisation-like melodies. Well-known examples of this include Parker's "Ornithology" (based on "How High the Moon," a Broadway show-tune of the 1940s written by Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton). Below, listen to the 1940s recording of "How High the Moon" recorded by Helen Forrest. Parker's "Ornithology" follows. See if you can hear the similarities.

How High The Moon [ 00:00-00:00 ]

Charlie Parker - Ornithology [ 00:00-00:00 ]
Interestingly, bebop arrangements tended to be less complex than those developed by Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and other pioneering jazz composer/arrangers of the 1920s and 1930s. A typical bebop arrangement included an introduction, a statement of the melody, extended solo sections usually based on the harmonic structure of the melody, a restatement of the melody, and a variety of standard concluding devices. In this manner, the majority of small group bebop arrangements functioned as vehicles for improvisation, allowing considerable space for extended solos that tended to vary considerably between performances. Excluding the introduction, all of the above are heard in the piece "Crazeology" by Charlie Parker. This arranging approach has profoundly influenced many subsequent jazz styles and continues to be prevalent in contemporary "mainstream" or "straight-ahead" jazz.
Heebie Jeebies
Say, I've got the Heebies
I mean the Jeebies
Talking about
The dance, the Heebie Jeebies
Do, because they're boys
Because it pleases me to be joy
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
He's in the army now, a blowin' reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B