The Be Bop Era

Overtime

The Be Bop Era
RCA Victor Vintage Series
Reissue Produced by Brad McCuen
LPV-519
1965

From the back cover: The cataclysmic world changes of the nineteen forties – changes that one writer has referred to as the birth pains of the twentieth century – reached many levels of society. It is not, therefore, surprising that the decade saw the emergence of one of the most important periods in the brief history of jazz – the bop era.

Definitions and descriptions of the crucial changes taking place vary as widely as the temperaments of the writers making the definitions. Hugues Panassie, one of the earliest serious jazz commentators, has never fully accepted bop as a manifestation of the Real Jazz. In his Guide to Jazz (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1956) Panassie writes that bop is "a type of music which has wrongly been described as Jazz." He provides three reasons for this distinction: (1) The players of bop "have abandoned the classic instrumental jazz tradition"; (2)"...the bop rhythm section breaks the continuity of the swing"; (3) "...boppers systematically use chords and intervals adopted from modern European music and destroy the harmonic atmosphere of jazz."

Panassie's objections have certainly built-in contradictions. The "classic instrumental tradition" was simply a reduction of the marching bands of the late nineteenth century. Bop instrumentation was a similar reduction of the big swing bands. The "continuity of the swing" was actually strengthened in bop by the increased mobility provided the rhythm section by – among other things – the switch of the principal timekeeping function from the bass drum of the top cymbal. Finally, the "harmonic atmosphere" of jazz had always been dependent, to one degree or another, upon European harmonies.

Having set his own limitations of the art, Panassie over-looks the fact that excellence of creativity and execution – elements that he stresses in his definition of jazz – inevitably lead improvisatory artists out of traditional patterns and into exploratory activities. Even the briefest comparison of King Oliver and the young Louis Armstrong confirms this fact.

There were, of course, more than just musical implications involved in bop. In a very real sense, it represented the departure of jazz players from the mainstream of American popular music. It had been difficult, even in the thirties, for jazz players of outstanding artistic quality to reach a wide audience in the way that the popularizers did. But the fact remains that Coleman Hawkins had his Body and Soul and Benny Goodman rode to national fame on the impetus provided by Fletcher Henderson's arrangements. Few bop players ever considered the possibility of a similar popular success.

Bop was, for the first time in jazz, principally, a harmonic/rhythmic music. Melody was developed, for the most part, from complex harmonic cadences. These cadences were further intensified by the use of chromatic passing chords and altered harmonic intervals. The melodies derived were, understandably, difficult for the unsophisticated ear to understand. This is not to say that stunning melodies were not present in bop; the list of excellent lines is long – Confirmation, Relaxin' at Camarillo, Yardbird Suite, just to mention Charlie Parker's tunes, come immediately to mind. But these are not the Viennese song melodies or the structured marching-band compositions that dominated the first two decades of jazz.

Ross Russell, one of the most important producers of early bop records and a perceptive musical observer, described the music succinctly in a series of articles, published in The Record Changer in 1948-49. "Bebop," he wrote, "is music of revolt: revolt against big bands, arrangers, vertical harmonies, soggy rhythms, non-playing orchestra leaders, Tin-Pan Alley – against commercialized music in general. It reasserts the individuality of the jazz musician as a creative artist, playing spontaneous and melodic music within the framework of jazz, but with new tools, sounds, and concepts."

Coleman Hawkins, ever the young Turk of jazz, regardless how iconoclastic the new developments, was one of the first of the now "older' musicians to probe the new music. In Allen's Alley he makes the unusual gesture of featuring another tenor player – Lester Young-oriented Allen Eager. The melody is familiar; it has been known by other names. The rhythmic flow is typically transitional; players were not yet clear how to bring all the parts together, and both the solos and the accompaniment bounce back and forth between a swing and a bop feeling.

Illinois Jacquet led one of the vital little jump bands that provided important growing conditions for the young musicians of the forties. Jacquet's group was built around the leader's occasionally hysterical tenor solos (although he could also play superbly when not motivated to break up the audience). Mutton Leg is especially interesting because of the presence of a young J. J. Johnson, already a major influence on his instrument.

Like Jacquet (and Don Byas), Lucky Thompson's roots were in the thirties, but he made the switch to the new music with little trouble. In Boppin' the Blues he plays with the dark, somber warmth of the Hawkin's tenor school, but his licks and the overall character of his phrases are obviously influenced by Charlie Parker. Thompson's consistency and artistic maturity, so obvious today, were equally evident on this early recording.

The Kenny Clarke group was one of the best small bands recorded during the period. The arrangements are patterned along typical big band lines. Background riffs, however, are all bop licks (as, for example, the unison trumpet figures behind the tenor solo on 52nd Street Theme). It is also unusual that two of the lines are Thelonius Monk compositions and – more significant – that both are played with an exceptional understanding of the special demands of Monk's music. The solos are endlessly fascinating. Sonny Sit's version of the Parker style is already well worked out (although he has a bit of trouble here and there with double-time figures). Bud Powell is in rare form; notice his superb short chorus on Epistrophy. Finally, the surprising two-trumpet team of Fats Navarro and Kenny Dorham, demonstrating that profound effect of the Dizzy Gillespie trumpet style upon his contemporaries. (Their chase choruses on Royal Roost are excellent). Notice, too, the germinal basis of Clifford Brown's trumpet style in Navarro's precisely articulated lines (especially his chorus on Pop-Bop Sh-Bam).

The Ventura group popularized bop, but it was never less than a good musical ensemble. Conte Candoli was probably the first trumpeter to grasp the implications of the developing Miles Davis style and adapt it to his own purposes. Ventura, if not always, a fascinating soloist, possessed the good taste to maintain a unit that balanced entertainment with a healthy does of the new music.

The Metronome All Stars tracks are, of course, most notable because of the presence of Charlie Parker. The rhythm section would probably not be the one Parker would have chosen for himself, but, as in all his recordings, he seems to carry the rhythmic time so clearly in his mind that his playing transcends the immediate problems of accompanists who do not precisely understand his accents. These tracks, incidentally, are four-minute versions – alternate takes from the orginal 79 rip ten-inch issues – that give Parker more time to stretch out.

One of the measures of success in the forties was still the big band. By the latter part of the decade the bop wave had firmly infiltrated even so staunch a member of the swing ranks as the Count Basie band. (Not really very surprising, since many of the musical developments of bop traced directly to individual and ensemble aspects of the Basie ensemble of the thirties). Rat Race is a two-tenor battle between Gene Ammons and George Auld, playing with the Basie Sextext, that indicates the continued strength of the Young-modified-by-Parker tenor style.

The important big bands of the period, however, was that of Dizzy Gillespie. It was an incredibly fiery organization. If it did not always play perfectly in tune or excited its phrases with the accuracy of, say, Benny Goodman's or Woody Herman's powerhouse groups, the Gillespie band had the advantage of a collective drive and swing that was unmatched by any band of the period. Fronted by a leader who was not only a musical revolutionary, but an outgoing, warmly extroverted personality as well, the group's performances were a rare combination of musical excitement and stinging good humor. The tracks included here have been reissued before, but they are included again because of the excellent cross section they provide of the Gillespie band's music. From the humorous vocal exchanges of Gillespie and Joe Carroll to the classic Gillespie trumpet choruses and the shouting ensemble phrases, this is bop in its most musical and most popularly entertaining phase. Rarely has jazz been gifted with an organization that so accurately represented the artistry and the entertainment of the music. – Don Heckman - Jazz Editor, The American Record Guide

From Billboard - August 7, 1965: Historic performances in the evolution of jazz by the pace-setters of the bop era. Dizzy, Bird, Miles, Navarro, Ventura and other 52nd Street stalwarts play "Oop-Bop Sh-Bam," "Cool Breeze," "Royal Roost," Oop-Pop-a-Da" 12 more jazz mileposts.

Allen's Alley 2/27/46
Coleman Hawkins' 52nd Street All Stars
Hawkins - leader and tenor sax
Allen Eager - tenor sax
Pete Brown - Alto sax
James (Jimmy) Henry Jones - piano
Al McKibbon - bass
Mary Osborne - guitar
Shelly Manne - drums

Mutton Leg 12/19/47
Illinois Jacquet And His Orchestra
Jacquet - leader and tenor sax
Leo Parker - bariton sax
Sir Charles Thompson - piano
John Collins - guitar
Joe Newman and Russell Jacquet - trumpets
J. J. Johnson - tombone
Al Lucas - bass
Shadow Wilson - drums

Epistrophy 9/5/46
Kenny Clarke And His 52nd Street Boys
Clarke - leader and drums
Fats Navarro and Kenny Dorham - trumpets
Ray Abramson, Eddy DeVertevill and Sonny Stitt - reeds
Bud Powell - piano
Al Hall - bass
John Collins - guitar

52 Stere Theme 9/5/46
Same personnel

Oop-Bop Sh-Bam 9/5/46
Same personnel

Ha 9/30/49
Charlie Ventura and His Orchestra
Ventura - leader and sax
Conte Condoli - trumpet
Benny Green - trombone
Boots Mussulli - sax
Dan (Dave) McKenna - piano
Red Mitchell - bass
Ed Shaughnessy - drums

Overtime 1/2/49
Metronome All Stars
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Charlie Ventura - tenor sax
Ernie Caceres - baritone sax
Buddy DeFranco - clarinet
Lennie Tristano - piano
Billy Bauer - guitar
Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro - trumpets
Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson - trombones
Eddie Safranski - bass
Shelly Manne - drums

Victory Ball 1/3/49
Same personnel

Rat Race 2/6/50
Count Basie and His Sextet
Basie - leader and piano
Harry Edison - trumpet
Dickie Wells - trombone
Georgie Auld - alto sax
Gene Ammons - tenor sax
Freddie Green - guitar
Al McKibbon - bass
Gus Johnson - drums

Ow! 8/22/47
Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra
Gillespie- leader and trumpet
David Burns, Elmon Wright, Matthew McKay and Ray Orr - trumpets
Howard Johnson and John Brown - alto saxes
James Moody and Joe Gayles - tenor saxes
Cecil Payne - baritone sax
Taswell Baird and William Sheperd - trombones
John Lewis - piano
John Collins - guitar
Ray Brown - bass
Milton Jackson - vibes
Joe Harris - drums

Cool Breeze 12/22/47
Same personnel as Ow! except: Lammar Wright and Ernest Bailey replace McKay and Orr - trumpets
George Nicholas replaces Taswell Baird - tenor sax
Theodore Kelly replaces Taswell Baird - trombone
Chano Pozo - bongos
Al McKibbon replaces Ray Brown - bass
Kenneth Spearman replaces Joe Harris - drums
Vibes and guitar - out

Jump Did-Le Ba 5/6/49
Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra
Gillespie - leader and trumpet
John Brown and Ernie Henry - alto saxes
Yusef Leteef and Joe Gayles - tenor saxes
Willie Cook, B. Harris and Elmon Wright - trumpets
A. Duryea, S. G. Hunt and J. C. Tarrant - trombones
J. Foreman Jr. - paino
Al McKibbon - bass
T. Steward - drums
V. D.V. Guerra - congo drums
Joe Carrol and Dizzy - vocal