Hard Bop Jazz

Whenever I teach the history of jazz, it seems that one of my students' favorite styles is "Hard Bop." This genre came of age in the early 1950s, but its true heyday was the late 50s and early 60s. It picks up where bebop left off: fast tempos, complicated chord changes, and fiery soloing. In fact, unless you know the specific performers on a given recording, a lot of hard bop sounds just like bebop. However, many hard bop artists slowed down the tempos and added the earthy sounds of blues and gospel music to their artistic palettes. In doing so, they created a subgenre known as "soul jazz." The Blue Note record label is synonymous with this style, and since it is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, there are a lot of tributes to its vast catalog and stable of artists both in print and on the web.

One such tribute can be found on NPR's "Take Five" jazz site. Their goal is to teach people about jazz, five tracks at a time. Each week they post a different theme with brief notes, pictures, and, of course, full length recordings. The hard bop page posted this week has five of the greatest Blue Note recordings of all time. Check it out!