-
1928 - First Vocal Bebop Scat Singing
First use of 'Bebop' as a vocal expression in the heavily improvised form of vocal scat, where jazz instruments would be impersonated with free-form and lyrical sounds to create an organic, original style. -
Period: to
Time
-
1939 - 'Body And Soul' is Recorded
'Body And Soul' by Coleman Hawkins displays a bizarre twist on the established jazz timing and structure, showing the first hint of improvising and virtuosity that would be a hallmark of later bebop. A young musician named Charlie Parker was greatly influenced by the recordings experimental first-steps. He would later cite a jam session in 1939 as the beginning of bebop as he shifted the traditional chromatic tones of jazz solos into a free-form structure across the song "Cherokee" with guitaris -
1942 - Musician's Recording Ban
During a 2 year musicians recording ban, Charlie Parker becomes a local fixture in New York as park of the Earl Hines Orchestra. Here Parker would get to create and hone a startling new style of music using the tones of improvised chords, discordant rhythmic structures and unusual harmonic substitutions- with the virtuoso help of musical legends Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, and Kenny Clarke 'Bebop' was born. -
1945 - 'Ko-Ko' recording session at the Savoy Records studio
Known as "the greatest Jazz session of all time'. Charlie Parker, together with Miles Davis creates an amazing set of recordings that soon spread and set the standard for bebop throughout mainstream music. 'Ko-Ko', (which utilizes mainly improvised chords) is first recorded here, now considered a standard and classic example of Bebop in it's prime. -
1950 - Bebop becomes mainstream, declines with the birth of Rock'n'Roll
'Bebop' finally becomes popular and mainstream within jazz. However, the 'new' is quickly watered down, smoothed out and performed in a more mainstream style by artists such as Sonny Stitt. By 1956 'Be-Bop-a-lu-la' by Gene Vincent summarises bebop's decent into pop irrelevance. Rock and roll quickly becomes dominant, and the popularity of bebop follows jazz into a sharp decline through the 50's and 60's. -
1991 - East Coast Hip-Hop resurrects bebop
New York rappers 'A Tribe Called Quest' develop a ground-breaking album called 'The Low End Theory'. It utilizes a variety of bebop samples and features an original double-bass piece by noted jazz player Ron Carter on the track 'Verses from the abstract'. Along with albums by Nas and Cypress Hill, 'The Low End Theory's bebop, vocal scat, bass and drum samples would all play a major influence over the sound and production of 1990's hip-hop.
