Jazz Artists and New Styles

Bebop:

At the begining of the 40's many of the young artists wanted to go beyond the swing and develop their own concepts. The saxo player, Charlie Parker, and the trompetist Dizzy Gillespie were the creators of a new jazz style called be-bop. Parker and Gillespie had the idea of creating a quick melody and then improvise the rest of the song. The harmony and the rythm were more complex and the music was not apt for dancing. The elimination of the dance floors condemmed the jazz to be a music only for hearing and not for dancing . As it was elevated to music-art, the jazz was isolated of the popular music and its audience was reduced drastically, while other styles that were less complex were created to "fill the blank".

Charlie Parker:
Charles Christopher Parker Jr. was born in Kansas in August 29 of 1920 and died in New York in March 12 of 1955. He was known as Charlie Parker and was a saxophonist and jazz composer. He was called Bird by his closest friends and he is consider as the best saxo player in the jazz history, as he was one of the most important characters in the evolution of jazz and one of the most admired and remembered musicians. He is, with Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillispie, one of the creators of the bebop. His style collides with the swing and it is based in the improvisation of the melody by the modification of the chords, creating new melodies in the same strcture. Some of his most important pieces are: Antropology, Ornithology and Scrapple from the Apple.



Fussion:

The 70's is recognized as a fussion era, in which many jazz artists mixed elements of the rock, rythm and blues and pop with their own music. Until the end of the 60's, the jazz and rock were completely appart one from the other but with the creation of the electric keyboard and the sinthcizer, the musicians enter in an era of experimentation. Miles Davis was an innovator in the bebop. cool jazz, hard bop and his own style avant garde, stablished the parameters of the fussion when he recorded In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. New groups were created and they combined the improvisation of the jazz with the strengh and rythm of rock. Some of the most recognized groups of Fussion Jazz are: Return to Forever, Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra. In 1975, this movement had a lack of artists and interpreters, but for its comercial potential it has continued until today as a mixture of instrumental pop and it recieves the inexact name of contemporary jazz or acid jazz.

Wynton Marsalis:

He represented this era begining as a trompetist inspired by Miles Davis. He found his own style by going back in time to the bebop and he adapted and interpreted in an original way the ideas of the past artists. Many of the young artists that find inspiration in Marsalis, ignore the fussion and the most important innovation of the avant garde, using only the hard bop as the base of their music. He was born in New Orleans in october 18 of 1961. He was trompetist and jazz composer. He was one of the jazz musicians that had more impact in society in the las 25 years and one f the biggest trompetists ever. He is the father of the neoclasicism in the jazz, making a classic style that was technically impecable in the swing and the modern interpretations of bebop.

It is curious that so many young musicians play with a new style that emerged before they were even born. At the mid 90's, many of this Young Lions finally began to create their own voice ans style inspired in the old ones.

The jazz history since 1920 until 1975 was a constant evolution with new styles that were replaced by others after five or ten years. In the 80's, it was acceptable to make tributes to the past sub-genres and artists in order to find inspiration.