From Rhythm to Comping

As the 1940s dawned, America was ready for modern jazz or "bebop". The draft had thinned the ranks of the big band and the nation was more somber as a whole. Bebop was more inclined towards listening than dancing so it made sense that it would come to the forefront in this new word torn by a second World War.

The changes that occurred in the entire rhythm section made the changes to jazz piano possible. The bass changed its role from merely a two beat feel to a "walking" four beat feel. The drums began to play crashes on the cymbals and hits on the toms that accented whatever the band or soloist might be doing and also usually set up the head of a tune. The guitar, although it had reached some recognition as a solo instrument, was many times still given the job of playing chords on every beat. Because of these changes, the pianist's left hand was released from it's job of keeping rhythm with techniques such as stride or boogie-woogie piano.

So what would a pianist do with this new found freedom? That depended solely on where bebop wanted to go. Bebop was unique in it's use of the chord progressions rather than the melodies for solos. Because of the importance of being able to hear the chord changes, pianist began doing something referred to as "comping". Comping was a slang term for accompanying. Instead of a busy left hand stride or the like, the pianist would instead play various voicings of the chords that the tune contained. The chords they played were generally short and placed in rhythmically logical places. This left the right hand free to "fill" the spaces in another band member's solo or even solo themselves. Pianists began to accompany themselves not only rhythmically, but harmonically.

Listen to the following pieces, paying careful attention to the pianists. The first piece is Dixie Jass Band One-Step by Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The second piece is Dinah by the Benny Goodman Quartet. The third piece is Body and Soul by Coleman Hawkins. The fourth piece is Cherokee by Bud Powell.

The first piece is New Orleans style. One can barely even hear the piano let alone notice anything special about what it is doing. The second piece the piano is a bit more clear with some stride rhythms in the left hand and a short solo over the bridge of one of the choruses. In the third piece we really begin to see bebop piano. Though there are no piano solos or even really any fills, the piano is very clearly comping the chords that Coleman Hawkins is playing is solo over. In the last piece, we see Bud Powell who is considered the quintessential bebop pianist. His left hand comps chords that we barely notice while his right hand plays his ideas with great agility.

The piano's intrinsic ability to change with this new type of jazz, not only allowed it to remain in the heart of jazz but also brought it to the forefront of the jazz community with everyone from swing band leaders Count Basie and Duke Ellington to bebop pianists like Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell.