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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Bebop

Composer of the Week: Bebop: Episode 3

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Bebop

Episode 3

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Bebop, Episode 3

Donald Macleod focuses on bebop's two key drummers, Kenny Clarke and Max Roach.

Donald Macleod and Geoffrey Smith focus on the 'engine room' of jazz - the rhythm section - and in particular, bebop's two key drummers, Kenny 'Klook-Mop' Clarke and Max Roach.

Bebop! It's a rather silly word for a crucial chapter in jazz history. It didn't just come out of nowhere but evolved, fizzed and bubbled into existence in the USA in the early 1940s, as a result of a gloriously rich and complex musical chemistry involving different combinations of musicians, styles and places. All week, Donald Macleod and his special guest, the writer and broadcaster Geoffrey Smith, have some serious fun investigating this amazing musical phenomenon. 

In Wednesday's programme, they visit the engine-room of jazz - the rhythm section - and in particular, Bebop's two key drummers, Kenny 'Klook-Mop' Clarke and Max Roach. Clarke's innovation was to shift the drummer's time-keeping function to the ride cymbal, leaving the snare and bass drum free to 'drop bombs' - unexpected offbeat accents - that perfectly complemented the way that the most innovative jazz musicians were beginning to play. In the event, Clarke was shipped off to Europe as part of the US contribution to the war effort, and he missed Bebop's explosion onto the scene in 1945. His shoes were filled by Max Roach, a percussion virtuoso who absorbed and extended Clarke's innovations. Donald Macleod and Geoffrey Smith explore the contributions of both men to a stellar sequence of recordings, with Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Clifford Brown.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod and special guest Geoffrey Smith explore the jazz mode of bebop

Donald Macleod is joined by writer and broadcaster Geoffrey Smith to explore the jazz mode of bebop. It emerged in the 1940s, out of different combinations of musicians, styles and places

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