Ok, so one thing you need to know about Post-bop, is that Post-bop is weird. By the mid-1 960′ s the rise of Free Jazz had shaken the foundation of Jazz. So mainstream jazz had to somehow find a way to answer the avant-garde; and that answer was a genre called Post-bop. Now, Post-bop mixes elements of Bebop, Hard-bop, Modal and Free Jazz without undoubtedly being any one of those wordings. And Post-bop was more or less invented by Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet. So a lot of what I’m going to say here reports directly to this group. Now, I’ve got a separate video on Free Jazz which you can watch, but virtually Free Jazz was a reaction to Traditional Tonal Jazz, like Bebop. So Traditional Tonal Jazz utilized diatonic chords, functional chord advances, and was in a diatonic key. So “youve had” chord advancements like a 2-5-1, in a specific key, that use diatonic chords all from one particular key, and the dominant generally resulted down to the tonic chord.
Traditional Jazz was also generally in 4/4 meter and with a swing pattern, and then consumed touchstone sung structures like a 12 -bar blue-bloodeds or 32 bar AABA song form. Or some other figure that was generally a numerous of four prohibits, so 12 or 16 or 32 rail chorus. It too use standard turnarounds like a 3-6-2-5 at the end of the vocal to bring you back at the very beginning of the song for the next go round.
And Traditional Jazz generally used a Head-Solo-Head overall structure. Where the Head is just the harmony toy over the chord advance; the Solo is an improvisation over that same accurate chord advancement merely recurred; and then culminating with the Head again, that is, with the song over the chord advance. Now, Free Jazz was a reaction to Traditional Tonal Jazz. And Free Jazz often used no chords at all, and no chord advancements, and often used atonality. It was often also played in ameter, that is , not in any see or distinguishable musical time signature or meter. It was sometimes played rubato, that is, slowing down and be stepped up nonetheless you liked. And it implied a lot of polyrhythms. And Free Jazz often didn’t have a fixed form or organization; psalms often had no noticeable table orders or no obvious formation, with no parts or areas that you could quickly mark. And often “its been” pure improvisation, that is, it didn’t have a Head, “its just” unadulterated Solo, like a lot of the collective improvisation that is out of Free Jazz. And so if Free Jazz was a reaction to Traditional or more Mainstream Jazz, then Post-bop was how the Mainstream Jazz responded to Free Jazz.
And the direction that Post-bop responded to this attack by Free Jazz was with ambiguity. Songs were written “thats been” harmonically equivocal, metrically and rhythmically ambiguous, and formally problematic. So Post-bop abuses non-traditional or peculiar harmonies like a C Major 7 sharp-worded 5 natural 5, or an A minor Major 7 on C sharp; which is the Major third; or a C Major 7 flat 7; or C Major 7 sharp-worded 9. Right, those are all odd , non-traditional chords. So Post-bop chords were often very weird and not definitely diatonic chords, they often used polychords, and used unavailable strains over special chords. Post-bop also made use of non-diatonic , non-functional chord advances, that is, chord advances with no obvious key and no obvious tonal centre. And it also made use of non-diatonic keys, for example writing a choru in the key of the wholetone proportion. Post-bop made use of erratic and mixed meters, for example, you could have a carol that started in 4/4 but change to 5/4, or beginning in 6/4 but change to 4/4. It made use of polyrhythms and it made use of both jive and straight pattern. Post-bop likewise squandered non-standard or irregular sung forms.
And moved away from that Head-Solo-Head structure. So it changed the Head by devoting odd barroom formations, like you could have an 11 rail sung, or you can have a circular advance, where you can’t tell where the chant intention and reproductions. It, sort of, just sounds like it saves continuing on the straight line perpetually. It likewise repressed the harmony and the chords during the Head. And psalms were often written without a written-out melody or without a written-out chord progression. Post-bop likewise changed how the Solo was accomplished, and as I said before, truly moved away from that Head-Solo-Head structure. And it did this by changing the practice the improvisation was integrated into the song.
So you don’t have clear slice where the theme is played here, the solo is played here, and the theme is played here again. It, sort of, mingled the harmony and the solo in throughout the entire song, so it’s no longest segregated fragments. Its flakes of song and bits of improvisation, kind of, all over the place, exactly mixed into the whole chant. And this is only done by reiterating the music between solos, or employing fragments of the harmony within the solo, and using a lot of motivic improvisation or motivic blooming. And, in fact, getting rid of improvisation all together, so that only the song was represented again and again and again, without any solo or improvisation in between. And they likewise reformed the chord advancement during the solo, so it wasn’t just the same chord progression that you played during the Head, it was something different, it was something new. And they did this by doing things like including regions or tags to the chord advancement, or exploiting a quite different chord advancement unrelated to the Head, or changing the existing chord advance in certain ways, or exerting something called’ Time, No Changes’.
So, in effect, Post-bop is halfway between Free Jazz and Tonal Jazz. So that, if Free Jazz was’ total freedom ‘, Post-bop is’ restricted exemption ‘. So, Post-bop violates some musical principles, but retains others, and still insists much more organization and way than Free Jazz. But, however, Post-bop did make some elements and opinions from Free Jazz, but also retained others from Traditional Jazz. So then, really to repetition again. Traditional Jazz utilized standard diatonic chords, and functioning advancements. While Free Jazz abused no chords, and no chord advances. So Post-bop expended non-diatonic , non-functional chord advances, which created some harmonic ambiguity.
Traditional Jazz utilized a simple 4/4 musical time signature with a swing tempo. While Free Jazz exerted a rhythm and polyrhythms. So Post-bop squandered erratic and mixed rhythms, with polyrhythms so originated a bit of metric and rhythmic ambiguity. And Traditional Jazz consumed standard Head forms that were usually multiples of four barrooms, and high standards Head-Solo-Head overall pattern. While Free Jazz had no fixed form whatsoever. So Post-bop had curious prohibit designs and models, and removed from that Head-Solo-Head our overall kind, and therefore was somewhat formally problematic. So then, all these things are designed to create harmonic, metric, rhythmic, and formal ambiguity. So that you can’t tell what key a hymn is in; or where the tonal centre is; or how many forbids there are, whether it’s an AABA form; whether they’re improvising or it’s actually part of the melody; or what meter the vocals in; or what scale they’re using.
But it’s nevertheless, less free than Free Jazz. Because it still does have rails; it was better does have a fixed form; it still has a applied melody; it still has a written out chord progression; and a specific time signature. These thoughts lie, they’re just unexpected, erratic, and problematic. Whereas, Free Jazz does not have these events at all. And this is what I mean by Post-bop being’ restricted flexibility ‘. There is an underlying structure, it’s just conceal, and sketchy, and equivocal. Now, each of these topics deserves its own videos, so this lesson is just a speedy summing-up of what Post-bop is, how it arose, and its general features.
And i’ll create a separate lesson for each of these topics, where I can go into them in a little bit more depth. But as an example, let’s take a quick look at a Post-bop song written by Wayne Shorter called the Vonetta. Right, so that’s used non-traditional unison, or also known as’ peculiar chords ‘. It had an E Major 7 flat 5, which is an interesting chord. It had an A flat Major 7 sharp-worded 5 sharp-worded 9, which is a bizarre chord because Major 7′ s don’t typically have abrupt 9′ s. And it actually had a natural 5 in the harmony, so that in the end you end up with this weird polychord of a G augmented over an A flat augmented. It also used an E flat increased 9, but had the minor 7 in the song. Right, so all of this really is funny chords and spooky chord alternatives for this particular melody. The lyric also has a non-diatonic , non-functional chord advance. That is, looking at the chords, you can’t tell what key it’s in, or whether it has a tonal centre.
Right, “were not receiving” obvious tonic chord. Each chord is from a different key and nothing of them actually seem to relate to each other in any obvious road. Like, “there wasnt” 5-1′ s. It’s going curious Head form, that is, the actual carol is 14 bars long, which is not a numerous of 4, like you find in traditional vocals. So, it’s not 12 tables or 16 bars or 32 bars. It likewise abuses an irregular mixed rhythm, that is, it’s in 4/4 experience but for one disallow it changes to 5/4. And it’s slightly circular, that is, you can’t really tell where the end is and where the start is. And this is because there’s no tonic chord and there’s no turnaround to make you back to the start. So then, if I really prolonged toy that anthem again and again without demonstrating you the lead sheet, you wouldn’t really know where the beginning was and where the end was.
And if you listen to the improvisation on the actual preserve, you’ll “ve learned that” they often participate fragments of the tune during the course of its improvisation. So it’s not really a clear Head-Solo-Head form. Right, so that’s a peculiar vocal. It’s a mysterious organization; with peculiar chords; and a funny chord advance; and that’s what I want when I said that Post-bop is weird. It traverses that grey area between Traditional Jazz and Free Jazz. So like I said before, in the next few videos I’ll follow out all the concepts I mentioned before in a little bit more detail, because they certainly deserves closer inspection, as they’re all kind of interesting. And they’re actually fairly entertaining utilized in your own representing. And it’s also worth noting that the line between Post-bop and Free Jazz is fuzzy.
John Coltrane, for example, sat on both sides of the barrier. It’s sometimes quite hard to group his music. It’s often a mix of Modal Jazz and Free Jazz and Post-bop. Now, I’ve written a few Post-bop recordings you can check out up here in the picture-in-picture. And when you’re listening to them keep in judgment Frank Zappa’s infamous mention, that:’ Jazz isn’t dead, it only reeks amusing ‘. Because you’ll soon understand what he intended. Cool, so thank you for having watching again and as always delight seem free to leave a comment or a question. And look forward to the next few videos where I shield all of these concepts in a little bit more detail. Thanks guys. Read ya ..
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