Hard-bop is one of jazz’s most enduring subgenres, merging the intellectual, high-speed melodicism of bebop with the soul and swagger of the blues. It took shape in the mid-1950s among artists on the East Coast, who in many ways wanted to provide a contrast to the smooth, unruffled brand of jazz being served up on the West Coast by artists like Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. What distinguished hard-bop at the time was its use of midtempo meters, driving rhythmic power and simple call-and-response melodic lines, which often times mimicked the musical language of the church, and even borrowed from popular genres like R&B, soul and early rock ‘n’ roll.
Many jazz legends — from Miles Davis and John Coltrane to Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins — have had made albums that can rightly be called hard-bop classics. You’ll find a good handful of those albums in this playlist, as well as some underrated gems that nonetheless pack a serious groove.
Ultimately, hard-bop is all about lifting spirits and changing attitudes. “Music is supposed to wash away the dust of everyday life,” said pioneering hard-bop drummer Art Blakey. We hope our Sound of Hard-Bop playlist does him right. It’s easy to love hard-bop.
- Moanin’
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Preacher
Horace Silver - Blue Train
John Coltrane - Walkin’
Miles Davis Quintet - Soul Station
- Hank Mobley
- Maiden Voyage
Herbie Hancock - The Sidewinder
Lee Morgan - Blue 7
Sonny Rollins - The Blues Walk
Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet - What Is This Thing Called Love?
J.J. Johnson - Scrapple from the Apple
Dexter Gordon - Stablemates
Benny Golson - Millie
Blue Mitchell - Work Song
Cannonball Adderley - Open Sesame
Freddie Hubbard - Jean De Fleur
Grant Green - Sugar
Stanley Turrentine - Homestretch
Joe Henderson - Bluesnik
Jackie McLean - Chant
Donald Byrd - Judy’s Dilemma
Curtis Fuller - Four On Six
Wes Montgomery - Dat Dere
Bobby Timmons - Somethin’ Special
Sonny Clark - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Cannonball Adderley