1956 – Hard Bop. Hard Bop developed from Bop and spread through the East Coast. Adherents of this style believed that cool jazz was too “European” and wanted to return more blues and Afro-centric elements. Hard Bop was an assertive style that characterized by more active drummers, improvisations, darker and heavier ambience. Style was preferred primary by urban musicians from Philadelphia and Detroit (“Cool Jazz and Hard Bop”).
In 1956 Sonny Rollins with different musicians created several significant albums: “Tenor Madness”, “Volume one”, “Colossus”, “Plus Four” and other. Rollins also became a tenor saxophonist of Miles Davis Quintet that was one of the most noticeable representatives of Hard Bop. Musician replaced Coltrane who was fired by Davis for showing up to work drunk.
1960 – Free Jazz. Ornette Coleman can be called a pioneer of Free Jazz movement. In 1960 he recorded his sixth album “Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation” in New York. The title gave name for the movement. Style became more cacophonic and less structured. Free Jazz pressed Bop forms. Some specialists believed that style mixed features of older jazz types and represented it in abstract manner.
John Coltrane released his album "The Avant-Garde". Jimmy Giuffre, Steve Swallow and Paul Bley created Jimmy Giuffre Trio. Its first incarnation existed to 1962, but didn’t get too much attention. However, group was acknowledged as one of the most innovative representative of Free Jazz movement.
1969 - Fusion Jazz. Style united features from different types of music: funk, blues, rhythm, rock and other. This year Miles Davis released the “In a Silent Way”, where he added electric instruments to jazz. Fusion Jazz became more rock-oriented. In 1969 Davis also recorded Bitches Brew sessions where were more rock-style than jazz motives. There were other musicians interested in Fusion Jazz. Frank Zappa released his solo album “Hot Rats”.
In 1969 Davis’ quintet lost its drummer Tony Williams. Musician created own jazz-rock group. This year it released debut album the “Emergency”. Jimmy Hendrix’s works from 1969 also showed his readiness to go to jazz fusion from psychedelic rock.
1980 – Contemporary Jazz. Contemporary Jazz from 1980s united some different styles: avant-garde, hard bop, smooth, crossover and other. Commercial or smooth jazz became popular. Miles Davis returned to music after 4 years of abstinence. In UK basis for Acid Jazz started to form. Famous jazz musicians Barney Bigard, Bill Evans and Ronnie Boykins died.
Contemporary Jazz was a try to allure popular public to this music style. Some famous musicians chose it through 1980s. One of them was John Scofield. In 1980 Contemporary Jazz album “Tributaries” that was recorded by him, Joe Beck and Larry Coryell was released. Younger performers, like Kenny G., also worked in this genre.
1990 – Mainstream and Beyond Jazz. According to some critics, Mainstream is a jazz that was played by Buck Clayton and his contemporaries in 1950s. However, through 1990s this style united many other types of music, including classical. John Zorn released album "Naked City" that was created by his group with the same name. This musician was famous for shocking sounds that he created by combining different music "blocks". (Gridley, 355).
The Acid Jazz continued to develop in UK. In 1990 British group The Brand New Heavies presented self-entitled release. There also were several significant death through the year. One of them was Sarah Vaughan who was called one of the greatest bop singers.
Works Cited
Allaboutjazz.com. History of Jazz Timeline. n. d. 2 July 2015.
Chapter 12: Cool Jazz and Hard Bop. Wwnorton.com. n. d. 2 July, 2015.
Gridley, M. C. Jazz Studies: History and Analysis. 8th edition. Prentice Hall: New Jersey, digitized in 2009.
