Charlie Bird Parker and the Development of Bebop Jazz - Coursework Example

CHARLIE "BIRD" PARKER AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF BEBOP JAZZ al Affiliation Charlie "Bird" Parkerand the Development of Bebop Jazz Music is a tune that everyone dances to, including the old, the young, the young, the poor and the disabled. Music serves many purposes, including entertainment, education and passing pertinent information pertaining to the society. Music exists in different genres with different tunes. Jazz is one of the most popular genres of music whose origin dates back to the early 20th centuryi. Jazz music has since gained immense popularity worldwide as jazz tunes fill the air in most entertainment joints and homes today. When the name jazz is mentioned, the first name that comes into the minds of many jazz lovers is Charlie "Bird" Parker. Parker is one of the brains behind the modern jazz music. Charlie "Bird" Parker was born on August 29, 1920 in Arkansas where he also grew up to become one of the greatest jazz soloists. Parker is said to have had a musical career dream from childhood. However, history shows that his father influenced him a great deal into the musical career. Parker is said to have entered the field of music at the tender age of 11 years when he began playing saxophone. Later, he joined the school band which helped him nurture his musical talent. During his childhood, he joined and played with local jazz bands around his hometown, Kansas, where he perfected the art of jazz. Around 1937, Parker decided to advance his musical talent by joining Jay McShanns band where they played jazz music in night clubs and other venues across the countryii. Four years later, Parker parted ways with McShanns to join Earl Hines, with whom he played music for about eight months. Parker developed a new jazz known as bebop in the 1940iii. Historians reveal that although bebop has been embraced and loved by people of all ages, bebop was initially rejected by people in the 1940s. Bebop was rejected because the style used deviated from the mainstream jazz style that people were used to at the time. Nevertheless, being a creative and great musician, Parker managed to incorporate a variety of the bebop style that people later embraced in the entire country. The most typical style associated with bebop is that, unlike the main jazz style, bebop involved swings, particularly triplet-based swing feeliv. The arrangements of swing comprised of sections, which are designated specifically for improvisation. However, the bebop tune simply involved the main theme and the final statement. Additionally, it was common for bebop musicians to compose melodies with known chord progression. Parker’s "Ornithology", for example, was composed based on changes made from "How High the Moon"v. Another thing that is apparent with bebop is that the soloist was never bothered about the lyrics; rather, the soloists playing bebop were mainly concerned with the unpredictability of the rhythm and the complexity of the harmonics. Nevertheless, evidence shows that all the players involved in playing bebop were all important, and not the soloist alone as most people think. Parkers bebop composition has had a huge influence on many musicians. Although most people remember him for his composition for progression and melodic movements, Parker also won hearts in the way he incorporated the linguistic aspects of his composition. Additionally, Parker influenced many musicians through the spiritual and emotional contents of his music. However, the most interesting feature of Parkers musical composition had to do with its rhythmic aspects. This is clear in the manner in which he phrased and timed his musical compositions. Although not much has been written about Parkers rhythms and use of language, people credit him for having come up with a classical and interesting rhythm that was lacking in the other jazz musical compositionsvi. Like the typical bebop jazz style, Parker introduced swing dancing style which revolutionized the jazz music in a big way. Parkers phrasing of language also had a significant implication on jazz music. This is because his phrasing helped enhance the rhythmic responses that would later be adopted by other musicians, such as Max Roach and Fats Navarro among others. Parker is also credited for having transformed jazz by introducing elements that people were not aware of before he came up with bebop. History shows that the jazz of the early 20th century all through to the 1930s were played slowly. The slow tempo at which the jazz was played sometimes made jazz a boring genrevii. The young and the energetic, in particular, would not have the right feel of the music as they saw it as an old fashioned music style meant for the elderly. Therefore, to win the hearts of the younger generation, Parker developed bebop with a higher tempo than the previous jazz. Accordingly, jazz would now be played a little bit faster and involved energetic dancing styles. Although the elderly criticized the faster tempo of bebop in the beginning, they later embraced it since bebop took over all entertainment joints and venues across the United States cities and metropolis. Another major contribution of Parker in the development of jazz is the fact that he introduced the aspect of interpolation of music. In this regard, Parker introduced an aspect of interpolating original melodies with known chord progression. This aspect is seen in his major compositions, such as "ornithology and "What Price Love" among othersviii. The introduction of this new aspect into the jazz music surprised many jazz lovers at the time since it was uncommon before the introduction of the bebop. After the introduction of the aspect into bebop melodies, people soon embraced it and other jazz bands at the time also began incorporating the practice into their music. From his biography, the readers of Parker’s works learn that Parker was a drug addict. He struggled with drug addiction such as heroin for the better part of his life. However, these challenges did not deter him from achieving his ambition of being a musician. For instance, despite the difficult times he encountered, Parker managed to invent unique cords popularly known as "Bird Changes." History shows that before the development of bebop music, most tunes were based on the 12-bar blues changes. Notable tunes that were based on these changes include "Billies Bounce and "Cool Blues." However, Parker took these tunes a notch higher by introducing a unique version of the changes in his melodies. In this case, Parker introduced a change tune known as "Bird Changes," which influenced subsequent jazz musical compositionsix. For instance, unlike the usual jazz, which was short and simple, Parkers bebop music was very long and was characterized by complex melodic linesx. Additionally, his musical compositions had repetitions of lines, a practice that was uncommon in another jazz music of the time. People also credit Parker for his immense contribution to the rhythmic vocabulary, which was not typical of the conventional jazz. For instance, unlike the conventional solo jazz, Parker introduced the triplet notes into the bebop music, which involved the use of orthodox means leading to chord tones which gives the soloist the freedom to use passing tones. This was a very huge contribution since these practices were uncommon at the time. In conclusion, jazz is one of the most popular genres of music today. However, the modern jazz has undergone numerous changes over time. Charlie "Bird" Parker, in particular, is credited for making significant contributions to the development of jazz music. He managed to develop the bebop jazz style by incorporating different practices and aspects that were never existent in the jazz music. Although his invention was criticized in the beginning, bebop has since been embraced by people of all ages. Bebop is characterized by faster tempo, repetitions, swings and rhythmic movement. Bibliography Edmondson, Jacqueline. Music in American Life: An Encyclopaedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that shaped our Culture [4 volumes]: An Encyclopaedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Haddix, Chuck. “The Life and Music of Charlie Parker.” University of Illinois Press, March 3, 2014. Haddix, Chuck. Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker. Kansas: University of Illinois Press, 2013. Rodewald, Nik. “The Lester Young Tree: Bebop Saxophone.” Last modified October 8, 2013, http://community.berkleejazz.org/blog/2013/10/08/the-lester-young-tree-bebop-saxophone/ Woideck, Carl. Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. New York: University of Michigan Pres, 1998. Read More