Bebop Harmony

          The Harmonic style of Jazz changed drastically with the arrival of Bebop. This is where the true introduction if the blues scale really became prominent. When adding a flatted fifth (known as the dissonant tritone) to the major scale, it allowed for a level of dissonance that was new to the ear.[7] It was regarded as the "most important interval" to come out of Bebop. 

          One thing that did stay the same was the chord progressions, to an extent. Composers would take the chord progression from popular songs at the time, and put new, intriguing melodies over the top of them. This wasn't an unfamiliar practice, but was something that was improved upon throughout the Bebop age. Bebop was known for the use of the I-VI-II-I and I-IV-V progressions, a style that was also already popular[7]. Another style that became more present in Bebop was the length of the chord structures. As the length of the progression lengthened, it allowed for more variation within the melodic line.

           As a popular musician of the Bebop era, Charlie Parker mentions the influence of African music on the Bebop movement. He was affected by the legacy of African influence in his life, and he based his improvisations off of that. Both types of music had the potential to strongly oppose the Western diatonic chord structure. Bebop artists removed most of the Western chord style from their music, while retaining the heritage of the African matrices [7]. They both also shared the use of polyphony, and took advantage of parallel intervals. The most important thing they shared was their use of tone color based on instrumentation, whether it be saxophone or mbira.


                                                                                                                           Signing Off,

Brianna Jones