"When bebop was new," writes Thomas Owens, "many jazz musicians and most of the jazz audience heard it as radical, chaotic, bewildering music." But today, Owens writes, bebop is nothing less than the "lingua franca of jazz, serving as the principal musical language for thousands of jazz musicians."

In Bebop, Owens conducts us on an insightful, loving tour through the music, players, and recordings that changed American culture. Combining vivid portraits of bebop's gigantic personalities with deft musical analysis, he ranges from the early classics of modern jazz (starting with the 1943 Onyx Club performances of Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Oscar Pettiford, Don Byas, and George Wallington) through the central role of Charlie Parker, to an instrument-by-instrument look at the key players and their innovations. Illustrating his discussion with numerous musical excerpts, Owens skilfully demonstrates why bebop was so revolutionary, with fascinating glimpses of the tempestuous jazz world. Owens comes right to the present day, with accounts of new musicians ranging from the Marsalis brothers to lesser-known masters like Michel Petrucciani. Bebop is a jazz-lover's dream - a serious yet highly personal look at America's most distinctive music.

CONTENTS:

The Beginnings; Early Classics; The Parker Style; Alto Saxophonists; Tenor Saxophonists; Trumpeters; Pianists; Bassists and Drummers; Other Instrumentalists; Ensembles; Younger Masters.

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