Hard Bop
Hard Bop developed in the late 1950's as an extension of the Bebop movement. Hard Bop is characterized by greater technical proficiency, as well as more elaborate harmonic structures. Hard Bop was also increasingly influenced by Soul, Gospel, and Blues music, particularly in the persons of Horace Silver and Donald Byrd, among many others.
The following is an attempt to list important figures in Hard Bop, and their primary instruments. As always with lists like this, please take this as merely a guideline: first, no doubt, important figures have been omitted; secondly, inevitably many of these musicians have made contributions in other styles of jazz, if not entire careers! The presence of a name here does not mean that the artist is primarily a Hard Bop player, nor even necessarily a supremely important Hard Bop player. The best way to decide is to listen for yourself! Head to the record store or your local Jazz Station and begin exploring... (And if you figure out who's missing from this list, let us know!)
- Pepper Adams bs
- Nat Adderly t, c
- Benny Bailey t, flhn
- Art Blakey d
- Clifford Brown t
- Kenny Burrell g
- Donald Byrd t, flhn
- Paul Chambers b
- John Coltrane ts, as, ss, fl
- Ted Curson t
- Kenny Dorham t
- Kenny Drew p
- Tommy Flanagan p
- Curtis Fuller tb
- Red Garland p
- Dexter Gordon ts, ss
- Slide Hampton tb
- Bill Hardman t
- Roy Haynes d
- Freddie Hubbard t, flhn
- Elvin Jones d
- "Philly" Joe Jones d
- Thad Jones t, c, flhn, vtb
- Wynton Kelly p
- Jimmy Knepper tb
- Yusef Lateef ts, ob, f, cor
- Booker Little t
- Charles McPherson as
- Jymie Merritt b
- Charles Mingus b, p
- Blue Mitchell t, c
- Hank Mobley ts
- Lee Morgan t
- Fats Navarro t
- Julian Priester tb, elec
- Dannie Richmond d
- Max Roach d, perc
- Sonny Rollins ts, ss
- Woody Shaw t
- Wayne Shorter ts, ss
- Horace Silver p
- Art Taylor d
- Wilbur Ware b
- Doug Watkins b
- Reggie Workman b
Justin Hall
jhall1@cc.swarthmore.edu
Last Updated: 95/01/28