The Essence of Bebop

Jim Snidero is a veteran recording artist with over 20 titles on EMI, Criss Cross, Milestone, and Savant labels, among others. His sideman credits include the Mingus Big Band, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Palmieri, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Brother Jack McDuff, and more. Snidero also received a prestigious NEA grant to record with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. In addition, he is one of the most influential jazz authors in jazz education history. His best-selling Jazz Conception book series (Advance Music) has been translated into four languages and changed the way jazz is taught worldwide, while his new series The Essence of Bebop promises to be another major contribution. He is on the faculty at The New School, and has served as a visiting professor at both Princeton University and Indiana University.

Why did you write The Essence of Bebop series?

There’s no more important language in jazz improvisation than bebop, but most of what’s out there in jazz education deals with bebop on a theoretical level, as opposed to a practitioner’s viewpoint. Bebop is something that I’ve studied, played and thought about for a long time, so I felt comfortable with the subject and was very enthusiastic about the project.

As is the case with my other book series’, there are editions for different instruments; alto sax, tenor sax, trumpet, trombone (bass), clarinet and flute, with a piano/guitar edition being released this summer. The material is identical, but transposing, adapting and recording each edition is an involved process.

What experiences have you had as a jazz artist playing bebop?

Well, let me first say that I learned a lot about the music as a teenager studying with Phil Woods and as a student at the U of North Texas. That gave me the theoretical foundation. But the first major performing experience was when I moved to New York years ago and started touring and recording with organist Jack McDuff. I worked with this jazz legend for a couple of years, maybe 300 days a year on the road. Right out of North Texas, it was a dream. But the gig was very demanding, lots of bebop, fast tempos, blues, so I had to dig deeper.

At the time, what really helped was playing with guys like Tom Harrell and Brian Lynch, both of which had incredible knowledge about bebop that they shared generously, giving me plenty of guidance and inspiration.

After those formative years, I’ve been involved in many bands, tours and recordings whose principle influence was bebop and hard bop. I have plenty of influences beyond this music, but bebop is at the core of who I am as a jazz artist. I have 21 recordings as a solo artist, and many of those recordings one way or another relate to bebop.

I’d like to mention that I do have a new recording being released March 26th entitled Live at the Deer Head Inn (Savant) with Orrin Evans, Peter Washington and Joe Farnsworth. Actually, Peter and Joe are both on the book play alongs as well. For flat out blowing, it’s probably my best recording, and the band is so swinging and real. If anyone wants to hear me in a more straight-ahead setting playing bebop, that’s the one I would suggest.

What makes Charlie Parker the foundation of bebop?

Virtually everyone during the bebop and hard bop era was heavily influenced by Bird. Sonny Rollins called him the “prophet” of his generation, and I think that’s true. Bird developed a concept integrating melody, harmony, and especially rhythm, in a new way that opened the door to modern jazz improvisation. In one way or another, his concepts are still present in much of the music jazz musicians play to this day.

As a saxophonist, forget it. George Coleman once told me that if all the great jazz saxophonists were sitting at a table, Bird would be on one side, all the others on the other. There are saxophonists that reached Bird’s level of technique, but in my opinion, no one has matched the level of rapport he had with the instrument.

Are there some famous bebop artists that are more difficult to emulate than others?

I mean, from a purely technical level, it’s going to be much easier to emulate Miles than Dizzy or Horace than Bud. But when you get down to the feeling of the music, that’s where the real difficulty lies. For example, all the great players from this era swing their asses off, but getting that feeling is not easy. For me, that’s the most alluring aspect of jazz, that swing feel.

How do you address phrasing and articulation in the book?

All for the articulation and phrasing by the artists on the play alongs has been transcribed and notated. It’s all there, very authentic and a great way to learn classic jazz phrasing.

Beyond the song selections, what other content is included?

That’s the biggest difference from my other book series’. I realized that if I included an in-depth analysis of each etude in this series that it would be valuable as an improvisation textbook, including jazz theory, classic chord progressions, solo construction, exercises, practice tips and historical perspective.

Solo construction is something that’s not really talked about much in jazz education, but it’s totally critical to a musical solo. You can have all the ideas or hot licks in the world, but if you don’t know how to put it together, they’re kind of useless. Great players have developed instincts that help them create musical flow and balance, what I call the “solo arc”, which is really part of the art form. We spend a lot of time in the analysis talking about solo construction.

I should mention that the book is equally divided between bebop (e.g. Bird, Bud, Monk, Dizzy, etc) and hard-bop (Trane, Freddie Hubbard, etc…). Artists like Miles and Rollins fit both categories. So there’s a lot of concepts included.

What was the concept behind the play-along recording?

Get the best and let them do their thing! These guys are all significant jazz artists that have been on the scene for years doing tours and recordings at the highest level. I mean, Joe Farnsworth was in McCoy Tyner’s trio, both Peter Washington and Brian Lynch in the Jazz Messengers! The list goes on for everyone; myself (alto), Grant Stewart (tenor), Brian Lynch (trumpet), Michael Dease (trombone), Ken Peplowski (clarinet), Mike LeDonne (piano), Peter Washington (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums).

These tracks are so swinging, just so fun to play along with. It’s going to give a lot of people the real feeling of jazz. And they’re recorded beautifully, too.

New to this series is that all the tracks are downloaded from the publisher’s website, no more CDs. When you purchase a physical book, there’s a voucher code inside that will allow you to download to your computer, tablet, phone, whatever you like. I love that.

Finally, how would The Essence of Bebop be used in a rehearsal or classroom?

As is the case with all my books, I’ve tried to make this series accessible to a broad range of people. I mean, it’s bebop and hard bop, so some of the material is going to be more technically demanding, but plenty of it can be played by lots of students. In his endorsement, George Coleman said that he recommended the material to both students and professionals, so there’s a wide range of applications.

I think that the most valuable application of the series is that of an improvisation book. We cover a lot of ground, but it’s coming more from the angle of a jazz artist’s perspective. There’s plenty of jazz theory, but again, it’s as much about creating an effective solo than the nuts and bolts.

As I mentioned, we have the different instrument version, so everyone is looking at content in their key, which makes it very applicable in rehearsal or the classroom. A teacher could run through a few passages in an etude, talk about the concept discussed in the analysis, then play through a couple of exercises. Students go home, practice the material and with the play along on their phone with headphones, for example.