5. Hard Bop

The reaction to Cool Jazz is called Hard Bop because it seems to harken back to Bebop. Hard Bop, sometimes called East Coast (which should indicate also how much it was considered a reaction to Cool Jazz) was a movement that sought to bring an emotionalism, which some musicians thought Cool Jazz lacked, back to jazz. But Hard Bop is not as fast-paced as Bebop and is considered more accessible for the general public.

General Characteristics of Hard Bop (1950’s-1960’s)

  • faster tempo than Cool (a return to Bebop tempos)
  • more emotional than Cool; contains a heavy, full-bodied sound
  • return to a true improvisational style
  • possesses hard-driving rhythms
  • contains original forms, unusual chord progressions, and scalar improvisation
  • an attempt at being more accessible for the general public than Bebop had been
  • notes in the solos seem to bounce around more than in Cool, but less than in Bebop
  • unison playing (all instruments play the same melodic line)
  • influenced by blues and gospel music

Below is an example of a Hard Bop tune, “Moanin’,” by Bobby Timmons.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynZDm50EgBY[/youtube]

This is a performance by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers

 

Other Noteworthy Musicians