In this research task I will be focusing on “Ko-Ko” by Charlie Parker's Ri Bop Boys which was recorded in November 26, 1945 at WOR studios in New York City. Charlie Parker's Ri Bop Boys consisted of Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie played piano on most pieces while 19-year-old Miles Davis played trumpet. This song was in the Bebop genre which is part of jazz. The song I will be comparing it with, is “Take 5” composed by Paul Desmond and performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It was recorded on July 1 1959, at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio in New York City. “Take 5” is the biggest selling jazz single of all time, it is played up to today and has been featured in many movies and TV …show more content…
Here you can see the blues-scale feeling in the melody, as the accidentals create the variety in the harmony and melody of the song. There are two versions of this song, the single version and the album. The difference is the single version is 2:55 and the album version is 5:28. The album version has that energetic solo. The difference between Take 5 and KoKo is that Take 5 is West Coast Cool Jazz and KoKo is Bebop.
West Coast jazz:
It is actually a diverse subgenre that was popular jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is a subgenre of cool jazz, which is “heavy” and flows through each beat, so it’s actually a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. West coast jazz was more often composition-based. While this style was popular for a little while, but it wasn’t just the only jazz subgenre/ genre played on the West Coast, which showed more variety than could be shown by a simple name.
Accessed on 15/09/15