Bop , help a newbie!

[ninetynine]

I have a wide knowledge of jazz mainly of modal, free jazz, avant garde, but I never appreciated bop. I always thought it sounded dated but thanks to my likings of other jazz styles I think I am starting to finally appreciate this style. I've sampled some artists here and there and I really liked the very energetic fast paced bop. I know that Charlie Parker is an important contributor to Bop but what other artists or albums in particular should I look for? mainly in the 40s to 60s?what would you guys recommend? Btw I really enjoy Freddie Hubbard's album Hubtones!

[clifton]

Charlie Parker, of course. Also Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, J.J.Johnson, Fats Navarro, Tadd Dameron. A few album suggestions: Parker "Jazz At Massey Hall", "Complete Savoy And Dial Masters", Gillespie "Complete RCA Victor Sessions", Navarro, "Complete Fats Navarro And Tadd Dameron On Blue Note", Gordon "Settin' The Pace", "Go", Stitt "Only The Blues". There's lots more, but that should get you started.

[bubber]

Not forties bop, but fifties bop or whatever you want to call it:
Clifford Brown! Since you dig Freddie H, you really ought to listen closely to Clifford Brown. You can start with "A Night at Birdland" (Blue Note). Clifford's coda to "A Night in Tunisia" alone is worth the price of the album. And there are some of the funkiest piano playing ever heard (Horace Silver), the most cooking drumming by Art Blakey plus lots of other highlights. One of the all time classic jazz albums IMHO.

[Muskrat Ramble]

Proper has a very well-regarded (and typically inexpensive) set called Bebop Spoken Here. That would probably be a great introduction. For a reasonably priced and acclaimed set of Parker, try Studio Chronicle 1940-1948 on JSP. Five discs of many of Bird's greatest cuts for 20-something bucks. For Bud Powell, try The Amazing Bud Powell vols. 1 and 2 on Blue Note.

For early 50's late bop transitional music (or whatever on earth you call it before it split into hard bop, soul jazz, modal, post-bop, etc.), check out JJ Johnson's The Eminent JJ Johnson vols. 1 and 2 on Blue Note. Like the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD says, "The first volume ... is one of the central documents of post-war jazz and should on no account be missed." Couldn't agree more. Also, check out Miles's first quintet albums on Prestige: Workin', Relaxin', Steamin', and Cookin'. Try the awesome two-disc set from Cannonball Adderley called Sophisticated Swing: The EmArcy Small-Group Sessions. One of my all-time faves.

Blakey's Night at Birdland discs surely must be among the greatest jazz ever recorded--and they're certainly desert-island discs for me--though those are moving more into hard bop territory, as opposed to more pure extensions of classic bebop. Ultimately it's all semantics and judgement calls, though :) I'd say get the discs and enjoy them regardless of what people want to label them!

If you want more "pure" hard bop suggestions, as well, we could provide you with an avalanche of those :)

[LAL]

And if you're interested in very early (earliest??) bop, check out the all too few recordings of regular jam sessions that guitarist Charlie Christian had with numerous musicians including one of bop's originators Dizzy Gillespie, and Kenny Clarke at Minton's and Monroe's.

[SatinDoll]

hi ninetynine!
If it must not necessarly be 40´s bop (many younger people have problems with the poor sound quality, though the music is great), and if you just want to hear some straight-ahead, fast, exiting stuff, I´d recommend to you Johnny Griffin´s "A Blowing Session", featuring also Lee Morgan (if you like Hubbard, you also will like Morgan), and three of the greatest tenor-players (Griff as the leader together with John Coltrane and Hank Mobley). The rhythm-section ´s also hot: Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey. I´m sure that´s what you´ll like to hear.

[Bev Stapleton]

I'd support Muskrat's recommendation of the 'Bebop Spoken Here' Proper Box. Five hours of prime Bebop for very little cost.

I have a very enjoyable RCA Bluebird single disc compilation called 'The Bebop Revolution' which I always enjoy. Not sure if it's still around.

[clifton]

"Sax O'Bebop" is the new Sonny Stitt Proper box, four CD's of prime bop, much of it classic, including the Stitt-Bud Powell quartet sessions from 1949-50.

[ninetynine]

Thanks for the suggestions!! I'm enjoying Charlie Parker but there are too much recordings its hard to choose something! and btw I also really enjoy the boppy songs off of L'ascenseur pour l'echafaud thats the type of bop i like its quite agressive !

[It Should be You]

Others may not agree, but for Thelonious Monk try Genius of Modern Music vols. 1 and 2.

For trombone, The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, vols. 1 and 2

Elmo Hope Trio and Quintet

[Scottone]

another hothouse for the bop explosion was the Billy Eckstine Band. Miles, Diz, Dex, Blakey, Sarah, Fats Navarro- all played in that band before they came out as leaders. Some exciting charts, great soloists, Mr. B's classic crooning AND some rarely remembered scat-n-jump vocals (I Love the Rhythm in a Riff, etc.).
If you can program a listen to this, into the early Bird-Diz, through to Sonny Stitt and Dexter Gordon, Massey Hall, late-40s Miles, then into the Blakey-Horace Silver Jazz Messengers, you get a real taste of the lineage of bebop.

[Brad]

Ninetynine,

Rhino put out a great little 2 cd set awhile ago called "Yardbird Suite". It's a great way to get started with Bird. It was my first Bird cd and now I've got 50-60 Bird cds. I think this will quickly lead you to the Complete Dial Savoy Sessions, where you'll be blown away.

[Muskrat Ramble]

For Bird, you may want to start with Studio Chronicle 1940-1948 on JSP. Five discs of prime Bird for less than $30.

Review:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDSUB040402240700502440&sql=Ala90s38wa39g

[Brad]

My only reservation about recommending a box of that type to a newbie (or even the Proper box, Boss Bird) is that it may be a bit too much to take in first off. I think it's better with Bird to do it in a couple of small bites.