Prebop And bebop

Question 1

What was prebop

Answer 1

Still swing music not yet bebop but transitionary

Small ensembles - war so people had left

Question 2

Bebop example tracks

Answer 2

‘Koko’ - Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie (1945)

‘A Night in Tunisia’ (1942) CP and DG

Question 3

1942 example track and MF instrumentation

Answer 3

Tunisia

Trumpet = mute - changed in timbre and alto sax
Drums - swing rhythm goes to ride cymbal, snare drum and bass drum = sporadic and accented beats ‘drop bombs’
Piano - composing and stab chords - thins texture
Double bass - Walking bass outlines harmony with crotchets

Question 4

1945 example track and MF

Answer 4

Koko

Sandwich form - head arrangement
Fast tempo - crotchet = 300 bpm
Mixture of conjunction and arpeggios, follows elaborate and chromatic chord sequence
Chromaticism in bars 13-14

Question 5

Example track for prebop and MF

Answer 5

‘Tiger Rag’ - Art Tatum (1933) v influential

Extended cords and upper extensions
Virtuosic, fast tempos
Heavily chromatic and use of passing chords in opening bars
Stride in LH
Inspiration for CP who worked as dishwasher at jimmy’s chicken shack

Question 6

1942 example track melody and rhythm (6)

Answer 6

Tunisia
Virtuosic and fast paced solos

‘Great discovery’ solos outlined chord structure, any note in scale and resolving it to a note in the chord

Sandwich structure (head, improvisation around chords, head)

‘Med Afro’ afrocuban rhythms, beginning on toms, swing rhythms used later

Melody - asymmetric phrase lengths from chord sequences eg CP break before improv section

Accenting noted so phrases have a highly syncopated character

Question 7

1942 ET and MF (harmony)

Answer 7

Tunisia
Advanced harmony - tritone sub at end of swing section back to head (A7b5b9 to Eb9)

G7#11 in syncopated section
Chromatic undulation of harmony (opening chords Eb7 to Dm7)