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Words tend to change their meanings over time.  The changes of meaning happen very rapidly in words related to popular music, and appear to arise either through misunderstanding, or deliberate theft. The following are my encapsulated definitions of two such words. If you disagree, why not email me?

Hardbop

You will find the word "hardbop" written as two words "hard bop", hyphenated "hard-bop" or as one word.  A useful way to understand the meaning of "hardbop"  is to compare it with the more generally known jazz style, "bebop".   The structures of hardbop tunes are simpler than those used in bebop.  Hardbop rhythms are less complex than in bebop, but more powerful.  There are fewer pieces in frantic tempos.  Hardbop chords and voicings do incorporate the developments made in bebop, but not post-Coltrane modal voicings.

Repertoires of hardbop bands include an abundance of passionate, earthy and soulful blues, often in minor keys and containing elements of  rhythm & blues and jump jive.  The repetitive and rhythmic bass line riffs of hardbop could almost be considered as a development of the boogie woogie pianist’s left hand put into a band context.  Latin influenced bass riffs are also abundant, especially in the music of hardbop's most important founder, Horace Silver. 

The terms “funky”, meaning earthy, and “soul” (meaning gospel influenced), were commonly applied to hardbop.  These words seem to have changed their meanings, and are now applied to quite different music.

Unlike boogie woogie, hardbop is rarely performed by a solo pianist.  It is usually played by small jazz groups with the conventional rhythm section and front line horns.   Hardbop piano players will therefore be heard within the context of a band and so can dispense with the boogie players left hand ostinato figures.

It is interesting to note that many hardbop pianists were first inspired by boogie woogie. They include Horace Silver, Ray Bryant, Gene Harris, Mose Allison and Junior Mance .

The following paragraph is a quote but, apologies to the author, I have mislaid the source.

In the 1980s London, there was a resurgence in the popularity of hardbop, with a new generation of fans listening and dancing to records made as long as twenty-five years earlier. This renewed enthusiasm for hardbop has since spread to the rest of the world.

The highly respected jazz and blues pianist, Tim Richards, said, "The reintroduction of more earthy stylistic elements, such as blues, gospel and funk made hardbop an attractive style. It continues to be popular fifty years later".

Boogie Woogie

Boogie Woogie can be defined as improvised, blues based, piano music.  It is characterised by swingy rhythms, percussive attack and, in particular, by the use of ostinato bass patterns.  Boogie woogie players keep their attack crisp. Consequently, they rarely use the piano's sustain pedal.  Unlike hardbop, boogie woogie is usually played by a solo pianist, though rhythm sections and horns are often added for larger gigs.

Definitions of the term boogie woogie

Meanings of words are ever changing.   The use of "boogie woogie" as a generic term for the blues piano style did not become fixed until the 1920s.  It was only then that "boogie woogie" was universally applied to this piano style. Previously, the style had a variety of names (see "fives" below). The establishment of the name "boogie woogie" was possibly reinforced  by the popularity of the record, "Pinetops Boogie Woogie", which came out in 1928.

Prior to its use in music, the term "boogie woogie" had a variety of other meanings which are probably only of interest to lexicographers. Different suggestions have been made where the term "boogie woogie" came from in the first place, but most are probably conjecture. The explanation that I personally favour is that the name goes right back to African roots. According to one source, the word "boogie" derives from the word "m'bugi" in the West African Ki-kongo language.  M'bugi means "devilishly good".   Some musicologists have asserted that boogie woogie contains more African characteristics than any other Afro-American music style.

Guitar players have long used the term "boogie" (without the word woogie) when referring to their swingy blues guitar styles which derived from piano boogie woogie.  The word  "boogie" has subsequently gained an entirely different meaning which, I believe, has something to do with disco dancing. . . . or something.

Origins of boogie woogie

Boogie woogie was probably first played by black musicians on old upright pianos in barrelhouses of logging camps in the mid nineteenth century America.  

The earliest sheet music in the boogie woogie style includes "The Fives" (1921) and “Suitcase Blues”. "Suitcase Blues" is still in the repertoire of most current boogie woogie players;  for example, Axel Zwingenberger.  Both of these pieces were by Hersal Thomas, whose father was a music publisher.   "The Fives" was also an early name for the boogie woogie stylebefore the term "boogie woogie" became universal.   "fives" was also used to describe a  boogie bass pattern consisting of broken octaves using the little finger and thumb. This bass is now usually referred to as a "walking bass" and is sometimes played without the broken octaves.

The earliest authentic and definitive boogie woogie recording was probably "Honky Tonk Train Blues" (1927) by Meade Lux Lewis. Recordings with elements of boogie woogie in them were made before this, but I believe that none were entirely in the style and they lacked the characteristic triplet related swing.

Creators of boogie woogie

Jimmy Yancey (born in the 1890s) has rightly become regarded as "The Father of Boogie Woogie".  Crucially, it was Yancey who perfected the  triplet related, swing which characterises the best boogie woogie.   Although Yancey remained a part-time musician all his life  -  he was a baseball groundsman in Chicago  -  his influence was spread far and wide by his young followers. Numbered amongst them were Pinetops Smith, Albert Ammons and, most importantly, Meade Lux Lewis.  Pete Johnson was also an influential player who adopted the style early on and collaborated with Albert and Meade.  They  become known as the "Big Three" of boogie woogie.

Trains and boogie woogie

“Honky Tonk Train Blues”, by Meade Lux Lewis and many others has become the most famous boogie woogie piece ever. As its name implies, “Honky Tonk Train Blues” was inspired by trains.

Trains, of the steam variety, were a common inspiration for boogie woogie players.  One probable reason was that trains were a symbol of power and freedom -  especially for the underprivileged travelling out of the Southern States at that time.  Another reason was the intricate rhythms trains made as they ran over the rails.

Polyrhythms and boogie woogie

The best performances in the boogie woogie genre include cross-rhythms and polyrhythms.  Check out Meade's 1937 recording of Honky Tonk Train Blues. A particularly clear example of the use of polyrhythms can be heard in his piece entitled, "Lux's Boogie".  In the sixth chorus, Meade Lux Lewis plays  3/4 riffs in his right hand over 4/4 riffs in his left hand.

A wonderful example of the use of polyrhythms can be heard in the piece entitled “Number 29”. This is another train inspired piece by an early, so called "primitive" player named Wesley Wallace.  In "Number 29", Wesley plays 4/4 time triplet phrases over a 6/4 time bass riff, while at the same time carrying on a lively conversation about his life as a hobo! It is a unique performance, virtually impossible to copy.

Scales and voicings for boogie woogie

Boogie woogie players improvise over blues chord sequences using variations of the blues scale.  The notes of the blues scale can include the root, the 2nd, the minor 3rd, the major 3rd, the 4th, the diminished 5th, the perfect 5th, the 6th, the minor 7th and the major seventh.

Certain "blues notes" are favoured by different players. Note, for example, the extensive use of the diminished fifth by Meade Lux Lewis in "Lux's Boogie".  

Dr John, the well-known pianist, has asserted that the sharpened ninth is the essential blues voicing, since it contains both the major third and the minor third. By "sharpened ninth", Dr. John means a dominant 7th chord with an added augmented ninth or, more correctly, a dominant seventh chord with an added minor tenth.  In the key of C, the notes actually played would be E, Bb and Eb in the right hand, combined with the root note in the left hand. This voicing is also used by hardbop pianists who commonly add a sharpened eleventh and thirteenth.

Music influenced by boogie woogie

The influence of boogie woogie has been, and continues to be, far reaching.

In the early days, boogie woogie influenced the playing of Mississippi Delta guitar players, especially Robert Johnson. They, in turn, influenced thousands of blues guitarists right up to the present day.

Most authorities agree that boogie woogie was at root of the Rhythm and Blues music. ("R & B" is yet another term whose meaning has changed).  Listen to early R & B players like Fats Domino or Johnny Johnson and the boogie woogie roots are obvious.  R & B led, of course, to Rock & Roll.  In these later styles, the music was often rhythmically over-simplified and often lost the swing of original boogie woogie.  Listen to anything by Jerry Lee Lewis and you will see what I mean. Nevertheless, the influence of boogie woogie can still be heard in Jerry's playing.

Boogie woogie also influenced the jump jive bands. The most famous jump jive band was the one led by Louis Jordan. Unlike many rock and roll bands, the jump jive bands retained the boogie swing.  And the jump jive bands continue to swing, since they remain very popular especially in the USA and UK (see the "Links" page).

Boogie woogie was a powerful influence on the big bands of the late 30s and 40s, all of whom featured arrangements of boogie woogie pieces in their repertoire. A typical example is the band arrangement of "Yancey Special" recorded by Bob Crosby and his Bobcats. (It was only as a result of the popularity of this piece that Jimmy Yancey himself was recorded late on in his life).

I assert that, prior to the use of boogie woogie, the big bands did not really swing in the understood sense.  Listen to the early Fletcher Henderson and Paul Whiteman bands and you will hear the influence of the syncopated, march-based, New Orleans jazz and  rhythmic, but unswinging, minstrel-derived ragtime.  But these early big bands did not truly swing  - not until boogie woogie arrived. It is significant that two of the most swinging big bands were led by pianists who played boogie woogie:  the Count Basie Band and the Jay McShann Band. The use of riffs by sections in big bands were also clearly derived from boogie woogie.

Out of the swing bands came small groups of musicians who got together after hours to improvise. This was the start of what is now known as "mainstream" jazz.  As with jump jive, swing was retained. 

Later on, more adventurous, trained players from the swing and mainstream bands, such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, developed their music  further into the fast and complex style known as "bebop".  As previously stated,  bebop was more complex rhythmically and harmonically than earlier jazz.  The pay-back was the loss of  blues feel and earthy, driving swing. As previously mentioned, some musicians, regretting this loss, created hardbop.

Boogie Woogie, played in its original form, can still be heard throughout the world.  It is especially popular in Europe.

Reference material

BOOGIE WOOGIE

A good book about the history of boogie woogie is "A Left Hand Like God" by Peter Silvester, published by Quartet Books Ltd.  It is currently out of print, but still obtainable.

A good instruction manual for  boogie woogie is "Improvising Blues Piano" by Tim Richards, published by Schott Publications.

Accurate transcriptions of classic boogie woogie performances by Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson can be obtained from Boogie Woogie Press.  See the Links page.

A good CD to introduce boogie woogie is "Barrelhouse Boogie" on the Bluebird label, featuring Meade Lux Lewis, Jimmy Yancey and others.

The boogie woogie piece called "Lux's Boogie",  referred to above, can be found on the CD called "Meade Lux Lewis 1941 - 1944" on the Classics Records label.

The boogie woogie piece called "No.29" by Wesley Wallace, previously referred to, is included on a CD called "The Piano Blues - Paramount Vol.1 1928 - 1932" on the Magpie label.

To hear contemporary boogie woogie at its very best,  listen to the CD "Handstand" by Mike Kindred.  The CD is on Loudhouse Records and available through the internet distributors "CDBaby". See the Links page.

HARD BOP

The CD entitled "Re-Entry" by Horace Silver - on the 32 Records label. 

The two CDs entitled "The Best of Horace Silver Vol.1 & 2" - on the Blue Note label.

The CD entitled "Cannonball Adderley Collection Vol.1: THEM DIRTY BLUES" - on Landmark Records. The CD includes Bobby Timmons', "Dat Dere" and  Nat Adderley's "Work Song"  - both seminal hardbop compositions.

"Mingus Oh Yeah" on Atlantic Records featuring Charlie Mingus on piano and Roland Kirk on reeds. 

Transcriptions of Horace Silver tunes and solos. One of the best books is the "Horace Silver Collection" containing transcriptions by Alex Smith. It is published by Hal Leonard.

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