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The September 2010 issue of DownBeat highlights bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, who continues her upward trajectory with a modern chamber music project that combines the spontaneity of improvisation with sophisticated string trio arrangements. Other artists featured in this issue include pianists Danilo Pérez and Billy Childs and guitarist Al Di Meola.
The post-bop period covered music performed by jazz musicians who
continued in the bebop mold but who shied away from the experiments of
free jazz, which developed during the same period of the 1960s. Also
referred to as hard-bop, this form took the rhythms, ensemble structure
and energy of bebop and combined the added horn, similar playlists and
continued to use Latin elements. What made this post-bop music different
was the added use of funk, groove or soul, tailored as it was for the
changing times, as pop music was in its ascendancy.
Artists such as saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Horace Silver, drummer
Art Blakey and trumpeter Lee Morgan actually started this music during
the mid '50s, and helped usher in what is now the predominant form of
jazz. With simpler melodies and a more soulful beat, the listener could
hear traces of gospel and r&b mixed in. To some extent, this style met
with some refinement during the '60s as compositional elements were
added to create new textures. Saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist McCoy
Tyner and even such stalwart beboppers as Dizzy Gillespie made music
that was both hummable and interesting harmonically.
One of the most significant composers to emerge during this period was
saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Shorter, who came up through the ranks with
Blakey, recorded a string of strong albums under his own name during the
1960s. Along with keyboardist Herbie Hancock, Shorter helped Miles
Davis' '60s quintet (a more experimental version of Davis' highly
influential '50s post-bop group with John Coltrane) become one of the
most significant groups in jazz history.
