Through improvisation and virtuosic playing, musicians were able to combine both traditional melodic phrases and new chord progressions that led to the emergence of jazz music. Bebop and cool jazz incorporated fast tempos from African American cultures with European harmonies in order to create new music, representing the existing ethnic diversity in the US. The sociocultural environment of Harlem allowed for African American musicians to gather and produce bebop music by drawing from their folk rhythms and other sounds. The intricate arrangements of cool jazz represented a style of music more “commercially viable” for Americans in the early twentieth century. Musicians from both the bebop and cool jazz movements were then able to collaborate
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Bebop started in small African American communities and had characteristics that promoted their heritage, but cool jazz ignored their musical culture for an economic viability. Cool jazz was developed predominantly by whites and its sounds could be criticized for its appropriation of the African American community. Although the rhythmical differences between bebop and cool jazz represented the tensions between African and Western cultures , these new jazz sounds established a new intercultural art form. Miles Davis was one of the few African Americans who was able to put out cool jazz recordings and help create a sense of integration into the mainstream musical industry. Davis was an example of how whites “tolerated” African American musicians in order to gain profit. The changes occurring with these jazz forms in terms of integrating African beats into Western music styles, also represent the possibility of accepting different ethnicities in the United States . For African Americans, jazz gave a sense of identity and, with ethnicity being the foundation for jazz, this new art form transformed the sense of western culture in the …show more content…
Jazz was the product of a new age, accessible, spontaneous, and not exclusive to any one ethnicity or audience. Bebop was created mainly from musicians improvising on the spot, drawing influence from only their feelings and skills. Dizzy Gillespie was a virtuoso-level bebop trumpet player who liked to entertain his audience by making them laugh, but was always serious about his music and made sure to deliver an outstanding performance. Gillespie was an example of how jazz music can narrow the gap between the creator of the music and the audience because during the performance, everyone is connected through its artistic sounds—there is no segregation in art. Even after World War II in the later 20th century, little change was made to the existing segregation laws. However, this pushed the younger generation of jazz players to be more assertive through their music and express their feelings openly. It was definitely difficult to spread awareness of sociocultural or socioeconomic change during the twentieth century because of the restrictive measures that Americans placed on African Americans—the community that was essential to cultivating the new jazz sounds. Bebop and cool jazz both manifested the beginning of diverging notions in the United States through a growing diversity in music and continual
Bebop started in small African American communities and had characteristics that promoted their heritage, but cool jazz ignored their musical culture for an economic viability. Cool jazz was developed predominantly by whites and its sounds could be criticized for its appropriation of the African American community. Although the rhythmical differences between bebop and cool jazz represented the tensions between African and Western cultures , these new jazz sounds established a new intercultural art form. Miles Davis was one of the few African Americans who was able to put out cool jazz recordings and help create a sense of integration into the mainstream musical industry. Davis was an example of how whites “tolerated” African American musicians in order to gain profit. The changes occurring with these jazz forms in terms of integrating African beats into Western music styles, also represent the possibility of accepting different ethnicities in the United States . For African Americans, jazz gave a sense of identity and, with ethnicity being the foundation for jazz, this new art form transformed the sense of western culture in the …show more content…
Jazz was the product of a new age, accessible, spontaneous, and not exclusive to any one ethnicity or audience. Bebop was created mainly from musicians improvising on the spot, drawing influence from only their feelings and skills. Dizzy Gillespie was a virtuoso-level bebop trumpet player who liked to entertain his audience by making them laugh, but was always serious about his music and made sure to deliver an outstanding performance. Gillespie was an example of how jazz music can narrow the gap between the creator of the music and the audience because during the performance, everyone is connected through its artistic sounds—there is no segregation in art. Even after World War II in the later 20th century, little change was made to the existing segregation laws. However, this pushed the younger generation of jazz players to be more assertive through their music and express their feelings openly. It was definitely difficult to spread awareness of sociocultural or socioeconomic change during the twentieth century because of the restrictive measures that Americans placed on African Americans—the community that was essential to cultivating the new jazz sounds. Bebop and cool jazz both manifested the beginning of diverging notions in the United States through a growing diversity in music and continual