Parker and Gillespie made a perfect pair. Parker was the pure creative genius who could play most anything he heard, even if he couldn't read music or explain theories behind complex chords and melodies. Gillespie was more cerebral, methodically considering how to re-invent jazz, then implementing his ideas and compositions, arrangements and playing. Where Parker was brooding, moody, and unreliable, Gillespie had a bright, sunny disposition that helped bebop catch the attention of the media and of jazz fans.
Initially, bebop's wild, free departure from the restrictions of big band swing met with such criticism. The sound seemed noisy and disorienting to some fans and critics. But as bebop spread, critics, audiences, and veteran players began to view the music's complexity and occasional dissonance as challenging and progressive rather than vulgar. Not only was the music revolutionary, but the smaller format of its bands marked a significant shift, and by the later 1940s, big bands were waning.
Vital music, Powerful Emotions
Bebop conveys a multitude of emotions - there is sadness, but also joy, and a fair amount of humor. New York City, including Harlem, was a dense, noisy, urban place, with people packed together, car horns honking, skyscrapers under construction, subway cars running underground, and street vendors hawking their wares. Bebop sounds like the life pulse of this teeming American metropolis where cultures collided in frightening and beautiful ways. The only limits are the parameters of one's imagination.
Many songs from the height of the bebop era have strange names, such as "Klacktovedsedsteen" and "Ornithology." Savvy listeners can detect snatches of melody from other songs, even children's songs, inserted into solos. Artists created complete new songs by substituting new chords and melodies over the basic structures of popular songs of the time such as "I Got Rhythm" and "How High The Moon."
Traits of Bebop
Bebop has longer, more complicated stretches of melody and improvisation than earliest forms of jazz. It is staccato music - it uses strings of short, choppy eighth and sixteenth notes. Each line of a solo by Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie may start somewhere surprising and wind up in an even more unexpected place.
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