A modernist movement in jazz which had a deep influence on the genre’s history (see Jazz, §7). It was developed in Harlem, New York, during World War II by musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Christian and later Charlie Parker. Among other innovations, they superimposed on the harmonic structure of ‘standard’ songs melodic themes closer to the spirit of jazz improvisations, creating a new repertory. The improvisation became more searching than hitherto, and the speed of harmonic, rhythmic and melodic motion led to dense, compact performances. Instrumental sonority (without vibrato) became more tense and mobile. The rhythm section was thinned out, the guitar was often omitted, and the pianist spaced his accompanying chords more irregularly; the drummer explored the tension between a permanent beat on the cymbal (supported by a walking bass) and syncopated strokes divided among the snare, tom-tom and bass drums, often interacting closely with the implied polyrhythms of the solo line. The range of tempos became wider, with a tendency to the extremely fast (at times exceeding 360 crotchets per minute). After the death in 1955 of Parker, the most important bop soloist, many jazz musicians reacted against the refined intimacy of the ‘cool’ and West Coast styles in a movement known as hard bop.
L. Feather: Inside Bop (New York, 1949)
R. Russell: ‘Bop’, Record Changer (1948–9); repr. in The Art of Jazz, ed. M. Williams (New York, 1959)
A. Hodeir: ‘Charlie Parker and the Bop Movement’, Jazz: its Evolution and Essence (New York, 1956)
ANDRÉ HODEIR