The Bebop Era

The bebop era emerged in the early 1940s, marking a revolutionary shift in jazz toward harmonic complexity, rapid tempos, and intense improvisation. In this course, we explore bebop’s social, historical, and musical developments, focusing on the innovations that transformed jazz from dance music into a sophisticated art form. We examine how pioneers like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk broke away from the swing tradition, and how legendary jam sessions at Harlem's Minton’s Playhouse fueled the movement. Finally, we trace bebop’s post-war context, analyzing how it served as a form of African American resistance against racial discrimination, altered the genre's cultural impact, and permanently established jazz as a serious art form. This course will be recorded. Students will have access to the video for 30 days.