Post Bop

Post bop is a collective term for mainstream jazz styles that developed from bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop, but which add other elements as well. One of the most important new elements found in post bop music is modalism, which is an approach to harmony in which each chord change seems to suggest a new scale or key.

A Jazz Improvisation Almanac
Unit: Jazz Styles
Chapter: Mainstream Jazz

Modalism
Other Approaches
Musicians

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During the 1950's and early 1960's, a number of musicians developed more personal approaches that drew from earlier styles but added new elements as well. While no single dominant style emerged from this, these musicians are generally said to play in a post bop style. Post bop has become synonymous with the mainstream in jazz, as a large number of young musicians continue to base their own personal styles on the same elements that the post bop musicians of the 1950's and 1960's did.

Modalism

Miles Davis (Copyright © 1998 Lester Levy)

Probably the most important single new element introduced by post bop musicians is modalism. This term refers to a method of organizing harmony, and it stands in opposition to tonal harmony, which is the traditional form of harmony used both in classical music throughout the centuries and in jazz through the first half of the 20^thcentury.

In traditional tonal harmony, chords in a progression are selected based on their relationship to the key of the piece, and the relationship between any two successive chords can be analyzed according a few relatively simple rules. A musician can base his improvisation primarily on the overall key of the piece. A modal chord progression, on the other hand, involves chords that are selected primarily for their individual sound, as opposed to how they relate to the key or to each other. Musicians base their improvisations on the scales or modes associated with each chord, with little or no consideration given to the overall key of the piece - if the piece has a key center at all. Each chord change suggests a new scale and even a new key, or perhaps the absence of a key.

Modal compositions often take one of two different tactics. One possibility is to specify very few chords, allowing each individual mode to be used for an extended period of time. The classic composition in this style is "So What" by Miles Davis, which uses only two different chords during its 32 measure duration - one for the A section, and another for the bridge:

Pieces such as this have a strong sense of key center due to the repetition. Another possibility is to include chords that change as rapidly as is common in bebop - every measure or so - but which do not relate to any overall key center. Often, the harmonies are so complex that it is difficult to follw them at all. This type of music is also called "non-tonal" or "pan-tonal". An example is the Wayne Shorter composition "Limbo", as played by Miles Davis:

The first approach to modal jazz was taken by Miles Davis in the 1950's, with a band that included saxophonist John Coltrane and pianist Bill Evans. This group produced the landmark album Kind Of Blue, considered one of the greatest jazz albums ever. The composition "So What" appeared on this album. This type of modal jazz was explored further by Coltrane during the 1960's with a group that included McCoy Tyner on piano. Whereas the Davis group usually featured quiet and reflective modal music, Coltrane's quartet featured a high level of energy. They produced the influential album A Love Supreme:

Wayne Shorter (Copyright © 1998 Lester Levy)

The second (non-tonal) approach was taken by Miles Davis in the 1960's, along with his bandmates Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. It was this group that produced the album Sorcerer that contained the composition "Limbo".

Other Approaches

It is worth noting that Davis had played bebop and cool jazz during the 1940's, hard bop during the early 1950's, and third stream music with Gil Evans as well, before popularizing modal jazz in the late 1950's and early 1960's. He was also a pioneer in the fusion of jazz with rock music, as will be discussed later. Coltrane was a master of bebop and hard bop styles, culminating in the album Giant Steps, which was a testament to both instrumental virtuosity and persoal passion, and, after exploring modalism, he later became a pioneer in the expressionistic branch of the free jazz movement during the mid to late 1960's. Davis and Coltrane are two giants in the world of jazz who excelled in several different styles of jazz.

Another major figure in post bop jazz whose personal style transcended eras is bassist Charles Mingus. Some of his recordings, such as Blues and Roots, are hard bop. Others, such as The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, have third stream influences. Mingus described himself as a spontaneous composer. His compositions tended to use long forms that included changes of tempo, key, and style, yet they also allowed for considerable freedom in performance. Mingus maintained a strong reliance on the blues and gospel music as well. Here is an excerpt from one of his recordings, featuring alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy:

Pianist Bill Evans started a trend with his trio by allowing the bass and drums to take on a more conversational role, putting them on equal terms with the piano. The personnel in Evans' trios changed over the years, but the first and most influential featured Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. This group can also be seen as a forerunner of impressionism, which is described in the next chapter. Here is an example of their music:

Carmen McRae (Copyright © 1998 Lester Levy)

A number of vocalists used elements of the post bop in their music. One of the most well-known jazz vocalists was Betty Carter, who tended to interpret the melody of a song even more loosely than many horn players would, and used harmonic and rhythmic ideas that were often as advanced as what was being done by people like Miles Davis or Bill Evans. Her interpretations of jazz standards were often almost complete reinventions. Here is an example of what she could do with a song: