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Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965
It's nineteen fifty-something, in a dark, cramped, smoke-filled room. Everyone's wearing black. And on-stage a tenor is blowing his heart out, a searching, jagged saxophone journey played out against a moody, walking bass and the swish of a drummer's brushes. To a great many listeners--from African American aficionados of the period to a whole new group of fans today--this is the very embodiment of jazz. It is also quintessential hard bop. In this, the first thorough study of the subject, jazz expert and enthusiast David H. Rosenthal vividly examines the roots, traditions, explorations and permutations, personalities and recordings of a climactic period in jazz history.
Beginning with hard bop's origins as an amalgam of bebop and R&B, Rosenthal narrates the growth of a movement that embraced the heavy beat and bluesy phrasing of such popular artists as Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley; the stark, astringent, tormented music of saxophonists Jackie McLean and Tina Brooks; the gentler, more lyrical contributions of trumpeter Art Farmer, pianists Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, composers Benny Golson and Gigi Gryce; and such consciously experimental and truly one-of-a-kind players and composers as Andrew Hill, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus. Hard bop welcomed all influences--whether Gospel, the blues, Latin rhythms, or Debussy and Ravel--into its astonishingly creative, hard-swinging orbit. Although its emphasis on expression and downright "badness" over technical virtuosity was unappreciated by critics, hard bop was the music of black neighborhoods and the last jazz movement to attract the most talented
young black musicians.
Fortunately, records were there to catch it all. The years between 1955 and 1965 are unrivaled in jazz history for the number of milestones on vinyl. Miles Davis's Kind of Blue , Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um , Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners , Horace Silver's Further Explorations --Rosenthal gives a perceptive cut-by-cut analysis of these and other jazz masterpieces, supplying an essential discography as well. For knowledgeable jazz-lovers and novices alike, Hard Bop is a lively, multi-dimensional, much-needed examination of the artists, the milieus, and above all the sounds of one of America's great musical epochs.
Beginning with hard bop's origins as an amalgam of bebop and R&B, Rosenthal narrates the growth of a movement that embraced the heavy beat and bluesy phrasing of such popular artists as Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley; the stark, astringent, tormented music of saxophonists Jackie McLean and Tina Brooks; the gentler, more lyrical contributions of trumpeter Art Farmer, pianists Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, composers Benny Golson and Gigi Gryce; and such consciously experimental and truly one-of-a-kind players and composers as Andrew Hill, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus. Hard bop welcomed all influences--whether Gospel, the blues, Latin rhythms, or Debussy and Ravel--into its astonishingly creative, hard-swinging orbit. Although its emphasis on expression and downright "badness" over technical virtuosity was unappreciated by critics, hard bop was the music of black neighborhoods and the last jazz movement to attract the most talented
young black musicians.
Fortunately, records were there to catch it all. The years between 1955 and 1965 are unrivaled in jazz history for the number of milestones on vinyl. Miles Davis's Kind of Blue , Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um , Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners , Horace Silver's Further Explorations --Rosenthal gives a perceptive cut-by-cut analysis of these and other jazz masterpieces, supplying an essential discography as well. For knowledgeable jazz-lovers and novices alike, Hard Bop is a lively, multi-dimensional, much-needed examination of the artists, the milieus, and above all the sounds of one of America's great musical epochs.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 11, 2017
I read this years ago and am reviewing strictly on memory. Hard Bop is a book about a type of music which isn't my favorite. (I find that I have to work to listen past the hard bop format in order to appreciate the individuality of the musicians.) Having said that, David Rosenthal wrote a book that got me to listen to some music I might not have listened to, and to listen more closely when I did listen. I thank him for that.
Mr. Rosenthal also introduced me to Harvey Pekar's American Splendor with his review of the first anthology in The N.Y. Times. He deserves my thanks for that too.
Mr. Rosenthal also introduced me to Harvey Pekar's American Splendor with his review of the first anthology in The N.Y. Times. He deserves my thanks for that too.
October 21, 2022
Aside from the clear enthusiasm for the topic from the author, not something to be taken for granted in books on jazz unfortunately, I appreciated how for the most part the book was less about the technical aspects of the music and more about the culture it grew up around. As someone who doesn’t read music or understand modals, changes, arpeggios and other musical jargon, this was greatly appreciated.
Equally appreciated were the personal anecdotes of the author about what jazz meant to him as a young man growing up and the joy it brought him to go to a record store (remember those??) and discover a new album.
On a personal level, I remember that feeling well. Not only the record store, but that feeling that you found a record nobody else knew about and how it felt like it was a kind of secret between you and the artist who created it each time you played it.
As much as I enjoyed the biographies of the artists here and the wonderful discography to pore over, it was the personal stories and the author’s love for jazz that made this one special for me.
Equally appreciated were the personal anecdotes of the author about what jazz meant to him as a young man growing up and the joy it brought him to go to a record store (remember those??) and discover a new album.
On a personal level, I remember that feeling well. Not only the record store, but that feeling that you found a record nobody else knew about and how it felt like it was a kind of secret between you and the artist who created it each time you played it.
As much as I enjoyed the biographies of the artists here and the wonderful discography to pore over, it was the personal stories and the author’s love for jazz that made this one special for me.
July 30, 2018
While in college I walked into a BD Dalton's located on Forbes Ave. in Pittsburgh looking for a book about jazz. The mainstream book store had only a small selection of music books and an even smaller choice of jazz books. I knew very little about jazz at the time and this had "bop" in the title so I picked it up. To my surprise, it had very little to do with be-bop. I read it but still new to the genre didn't recognize most of the names. I recently decided to reread it now that I am much more familiar with the genre.
Rosenthal's writing is stiff and stilted at times, a bit too academic for my liking, but his love of the subgenre overcomes the criticism. He is a true student of the discipline and he has written a good primer. Each artist gets no more than three or four pages, so don't expect an expansive collection. The real criticism is that Rosenthal is a fan of hard bop, not necessarily jazz. Yes, he knows and understands music but he expressed it in the way a music teacher does discussing rock or jazz as opposed to classical music.
A decent but not great read.
Rosenthal's writing is stiff and stilted at times, a bit too academic for my liking, but his love of the subgenre overcomes the criticism. He is a true student of the discipline and he has written a good primer. Each artist gets no more than three or four pages, so don't expect an expansive collection. The real criticism is that Rosenthal is a fan of hard bop, not necessarily jazz. Yes, he knows and understands music but he expressed it in the way a music teacher does discussing rock or jazz as opposed to classical music.
A decent but not great read.
July 12, 2014
Despite the inevitable and inescapable limitations that the sheer scale of the project has built-in, Hard Bop is a pretty damn awesome exercise in at least partially attaining its ambitions: a history of, yes, hard bop. What is that, you might ask? Basically anything issued on Blue Note records between the above years. How else can we qualify it? Does jazz invoke for you smoke, dimness, addiction, rebellion, inherent angst, and fucking awesome wailing and blowing? That's probably hard bop then. The lost-forever expanse between bop/swing and the freaky-deaky explorations of free jazz, hard bop was a multitudinous, mutinous thing. Formulated by an expanse of mostly black musicians who were born in the first quarter of the 20th century and who drew on gospel, soul, and blues traditions AND who were pissed off at the world, this kind of jazz can't be without attraction. Rosenthal was a encyclopedic and well-versed jazz fan and his enthusiasm and giddiness shines throughout. The only drawback is what I mentioned at the outset: there's so many aspects to cover, so many musicians to discuss that the book can't help but be minimally inadequate. But as a starter, it's just great.
June 12, 2017
Better to read while auditing the music material that the book refers to.
Very interesting when it comes to unknown hard bop performer personal life stories.
Very interesting when it comes to unknown hard bop performer personal life stories.
May 31, 2020
The definitive introduction to one of America's most profound and under-appreciated contributions to world culture. The author really has a gift for bringing these artists back to life. He invites you into his study, pours you a drink, and proceeds to play one record after another, while giving you expert insights in language that is accessible to anyone. Whereas many writers find a way to make this subject dry and overly complex, Rosenthal makes it exciting and you feel like you are right there in the smoky clubs and recording studios looking over the shoulders of these incredible musicians who were living in the moment, burning brightly, and giving everything for their art. You will absolutely come away from this book with the motivation to seek out these recordings.
Upon finishing this book, I was sad to learn that the author died prematurely, just after completing it. I would have very much enjoyed reading more from him on this subject.
Upon finishing this book, I was sad to learn that the author died prematurely, just after completing it. I would have very much enjoyed reading more from him on this subject.
July 22, 2015
This was an excellent history of jazz of the 1950s and 1960s. I really liked the way the author wrote this history. He interspersed older jazz history and overviews of the jazz scene with detailed descriptions of specific players and specific sessions. He did not focus on the traditional subjects entirely, but on both well-known and not so well known artists and albums. I appreciated the level of detail as well as the variety of artists covered. I also liked the way the author wrote his music reviews. They brought music to life, especially the sessions and albums that I hadn't previously heard.
June 6, 2007
If you love hard bop jazz (see Blue Note releases from 1955-1965) this will give you an excellent microcosm musical history.
March 31, 2008
Great summary of the best period in jazz.
October 2, 2013
A terrific and erudite book on this important sub-genre of jazz. I learned a great deal from it.
August 3, 2019
Liked it for the historical aspects--some good in-depth discussion of some lesser known players--less so for the critical aspects. I wasn't sure what critical point(s) he was trying to make: he makes the case that hard bop ended in the early 60s (in terms of forward progress and players being able to make a living off it), then describes current players playing in the style (Wynton Marsalis, etc.) but not really advancing it, seems to criticize blacks for abandoning it (and jazz in general) for rap, and whites for reviving it out of second-hand nostalgia.
April 8, 2018
Puts blackness in the foreground as a thread holding together the evolutions of 55-65. Plenty of social history - place, society and attitude of non musicians become first order participants in the music, not just the preserve of musicians.
Works through groups of musicians, attitudes and styles before reporting on the stutter into free and the erosion of soul, funk and rock.
Works through groups of musicians, attitudes and styles before reporting on the stutter into free and the erosion of soul, funk and rock.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2020
Although I enjoyed the book (as I enjoy hard bop from the late 50s through early 60s) this was more of a history book and less of a “how to book” as to what hard bop is. But the spotlight shines on many different musicians, both validating my current library as well as giving me a long list of performers to uncover in the future
November 23, 2021
An introduction to the world of Hard Bop. How this jazz differs from Bebop, how it grew and eventually changed over the decades of the 40s,50s and 60s.
May 14, 2021
Fortunately this isn't a dry read, it was written by someone who was not only passionate about the music, but who met some of the musicians and followed the scene personally.
Some things surprised me and are indicative of the more obscure directions this book can go into which I appreciated. For example, I loved that Rosenthal spent quite a few pages on Andrew Hill, one of my favorite jazz artists and composers. Hill isn't very well-known to even casual jazz listeners, and his work is rhythmically disjointed, dissonant and rather thorny to most listeners, yet it still contains a forward momentum and enough coherence to hold together and not fall into the sparse, sometimes aimless avant-garde. Rosenthal does concede that Hill's best work consisted of his early albums for Blue Note (I would contend that there have been a few highlights since this book was published like his 1999 album "Dusk" and 2006's "Time Lines").
Rosenthal highlights many of the best albums of the period but I appreciated his focus on some lesser-known names too, often ones who died too early; Tina Brooks and Elmo Hope for example, or those who are simply under-appreciated like Grachan Moncur III. There's discussion of many individual songs, and what to listen for in particular, along with a lot of recommendations, creating a sense discovery, "psst, if you like this, you might like this too." This book makes me want to pay more attention to who is playing every instrument in a song, whereas in jazz I typically just know who the front-man is, and maybe the pianist and drummer.
As far as negatives -- I thought the subject of jazz guitarists was skipped over almost entirely. There was very scant mention of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and other greats. Also, despite delving into more experimental jazz and giving Andrew Hill some love, Eric Dolphy isn't mentioned at all, which was a bit surprising considering several artists who I would consider very similar were covered in detail. But it's hard to fault it too much, for a rather slim book Rosenthal covers a lot of ground and plenty of starting points for less experienced listeners to explore.
Rosenthal starts the book with a good description of how bebop transitioned into hard bop, what separated it from what came before and after and he ends the book with an account of why jazz declined in the late-60's and developments since then, many of them not entirely successful. His thoughts on the decline of jazz are particularly interesting -- in part he theorizes that as working and middle-class blacks moved out of the ghettos it caused a dispersal of peoples, they no longer shared musical tastes across class and social lines. More affluent blacks turned away from blues, R&B and gospel because they were too basic, raw and embodied times they wanted to forget -- they had turned to jazz because it was more sophisticated, but it became too introspective and so they turned to soul music which became increasingly mature, but still fun and catchy.
Unfortunately Rosenthal died in 1992 in his mid-40s and it would be interesting if this had been written today instead of the early-90's. I would like to have heard the author's thoughts on contemporary jazz artists like Christian McBride, Cyrus Chestnut, Christian Scott or Ambrose Akinmusire for example. My guess would be he would appreciate the latter two musicians more than the first two because Rosenthal seemed to hold the view that unless jazz was constantly progressing it was growing stale -- a view I don't entirely agree with but I understand its merits.
Some things surprised me and are indicative of the more obscure directions this book can go into which I appreciated. For example, I loved that Rosenthal spent quite a few pages on Andrew Hill, one of my favorite jazz artists and composers. Hill isn't very well-known to even casual jazz listeners, and his work is rhythmically disjointed, dissonant and rather thorny to most listeners, yet it still contains a forward momentum and enough coherence to hold together and not fall into the sparse, sometimes aimless avant-garde. Rosenthal does concede that Hill's best work consisted of his early albums for Blue Note (I would contend that there have been a few highlights since this book was published like his 1999 album "Dusk" and 2006's "Time Lines").
Rosenthal highlights many of the best albums of the period but I appreciated his focus on some lesser-known names too, often ones who died too early; Tina Brooks and Elmo Hope for example, or those who are simply under-appreciated like Grachan Moncur III. There's discussion of many individual songs, and what to listen for in particular, along with a lot of recommendations, creating a sense discovery, "psst, if you like this, you might like this too." This book makes me want to pay more attention to who is playing every instrument in a song, whereas in jazz I typically just know who the front-man is, and maybe the pianist and drummer.
As far as negatives -- I thought the subject of jazz guitarists was skipped over almost entirely. There was very scant mention of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and other greats. Also, despite delving into more experimental jazz and giving Andrew Hill some love, Eric Dolphy isn't mentioned at all, which was a bit surprising considering several artists who I would consider very similar were covered in detail. But it's hard to fault it too much, for a rather slim book Rosenthal covers a lot of ground and plenty of starting points for less experienced listeners to explore.
Rosenthal starts the book with a good description of how bebop transitioned into hard bop, what separated it from what came before and after and he ends the book with an account of why jazz declined in the late-60's and developments since then, many of them not entirely successful. His thoughts on the decline of jazz are particularly interesting -- in part he theorizes that as working and middle-class blacks moved out of the ghettos it caused a dispersal of peoples, they no longer shared musical tastes across class and social lines. More affluent blacks turned away from blues, R&B and gospel because they were too basic, raw and embodied times they wanted to forget -- they had turned to jazz because it was more sophisticated, but it became too introspective and so they turned to soul music which became increasingly mature, but still fun and catchy.
Unfortunately Rosenthal died in 1992 in his mid-40s and it would be interesting if this had been written today instead of the early-90's. I would like to have heard the author's thoughts on contemporary jazz artists like Christian McBride, Cyrus Chestnut, Christian Scott or Ambrose Akinmusire for example. My guess would be he would appreciate the latter two musicians more than the first two because Rosenthal seemed to hold the view that unless jazz was constantly progressing it was growing stale -- a view I don't entirely agree with but I understand its merits.
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April 11, 2010good
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews