BOP !

    Be-Bop was a type of music that was a rhythmic and melodic extension of Jazz music developed in the early 1940's. Most bop music however was not very danceable with the tradional type dances (a Musical Jazz Improv if you will), however some Bop songs were very danceable as well.

    Bop was a popular form of Swing dancing during the 1950's as well as done as a solo dance (especially when the melody divorced itself from traditional dance rhythms). It's style was slightly different than its predecessor Jitterbug. The term Bop was also used as slang for a type of careless movement, such as "Bop on over." The Bop lead the way for Beatniks, Cappuchinos etc.

    The dance style was a form of Jitterbug, or more recently East Coast Swing. Bop was mainly 8 counts with a hip-twisting, body swaying, double rhythm style. The basic step is done in open position, Follower mainly staying in front of the Leader:
Originally: "Tap-Step---Walk-Walk---Tap-Step---Walk-Walk (or Rock-Step)" - swaying from his left to right. Today a basic East Coast Triple rhythm is all that's needed to change the dance but Bop Swing is no longer done.

    There are also Bop (Beach Bop) club's in the Southern & Midwest states such as Florida, Virginia, Atlanta, Chicago, etc. that call themselves Bop dancers plus doing other forms of swing dance as well. However I don't have much historical info. on them at the moment.

    A few clips can be seen in the television infomercial advertisement for music that shows clips of swing dancing of the 1950's. Today, younger West Coast Swing Dancers call this movement "Funky Swing," adding it into the West Coast Swing at any given time when they dance to modern Funk/ Disco/ Techno/ Rap or Motown type swing danceable music.

Birth Place

Creation Date

Creator

Dance Type

USA

c. 1945

Charley Parker (The Music)?

Swing (E.C.)

Posters, Lobby Cards etc.

Sheet Music Covers

Beat Generation

Be Bop

Black Orpheus

Blackboard Jungle

Surf Party

Various Bop Music Titles

Bop and Be-Bop were cool names, so there were and are many songs that used the title (do wop singers used it alot) ... so here are a few songs using the word Bop in various musical styles.

Be Bop (Gillispie & Parker)

Bop Kick (Jack Costanzo)

Diddy Bop

Be-Bop-A-Lula (Beatles)

Bop N Blues (Dupree)

Doo Bop Song, the (Davis)

Be Bop Baby (Ricky Nelson)

Bop Street (Vincent)

Hip Bop

BeBop Boogie

Bop Till You Drop (Cooder)

Horizontal Bop

Be Bop Boogie Boy (Vincent)

Bop-Ting-A Ling (Laverne Baker)

Hula Bop

BeBop in Pastel (Powell)

Bop Won't Stop (Stevens)

Jam for Boppers (Ammons)

BeBop Spoken Here (Barnet)

Boplicity

Jivin' In Be-Bop (Gillispie)

Bip-Bop-Bip (Pretty Boy)

Boppin' Shoes

Mmmm Bop (Hanson)

Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones)

Boppin' The Blues

Moppin' and Boppin'

Blue Jean Bop (Vincent)

Boptura

Orbital Be-Bop (Q-Feel)

Bop (Dan Seals)

Boy With The Be-Bop Glasses

Opus de Bop (Getz)

Bop Alley (Blakey)

Calypso Bop (Emanons)

Professor Bop (Gonzales)

Bop Bop Baby (Wade & Dick)

Can You Bop (T. Wilson)

She-Bop (Lauper)

Bop Crazy Baby (Vern Pullens)

Dance to the Bop (Vincent)

Techno Bop (Summers)

... See Full List of Bop Titles

Night Clubs

Theaters

Locations

51 Club (Minsky's)

n/a

New York

Byrd Land

California

Minton's Playhouse

Savoy Ballroom (1950s)

Village Vangaurd

Instructional / Exercise

Television

Ballets / Stage

1946 - Jivin' In Be- Bop

n/a

n/a

1947 - Oop Boop Sh'bam

1952 - Bop-Scotch

1957 - Boo Bop (Animated)

Publications

1957 - Bop Girl Goes Calypso

4/22/1949 - Down Beat Magazine

1966 - Op, Pop, Wham, and Bop

5/20/1949 - Down Beat Magazine

1974 - Bossa Bop (Animated)

6/14/1949 - Down Beat Magazine

4/1950 - Wink Magazine

Dinosaur Bop Comics (J. M. Arnon)

To Be or Not to Bop (Gillispie)

Other Related Dances of the time...

Be Bop Bounce (1950)

Carolina Shag

Hand Jive

Lindy (Hop)

Rock & Roll

Beach Bop

Ceroc / Leroc

Jazz

Modern

The Slop

Bossa Nova

East Coast Swing

Jitterbug

Mambo

The Stroll

Calypso

Hand Dance

Jive

New Yorker

Whip

Cha Cha

Heebie Jeebies

Le Bop

Push

West Coast Swing

Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Political

Ann Margaret

n/a

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...

Title

Author

Date

Publisher

Encyclopedia Of Jazz

Feather, Leonard

1955

Horizon Press

"Cool Hot & Blue"

Boeckman, Charles

1970

Washington Square Press

The Story of Jazz (Bop & Beyond)

-

1991

-

Various Bop Musicians

Singers

Poets / Writers

Bop-Chords

n/a

n/a

Bud Powell

Charley Parker

Charley Ventura

Dizzy Gillespie

Emanons, the

Fats Waller

Gene Vincent

Jay Jay Johnson's Bop Quintet

Maynard Fergusen

Miles Davis

Sonny Stitt

Thelonious Monk

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searches

45's rpm records

Boogie-Woogie

Doo-Wop

Rock-A-Billy

American Bandstand

Charlie Parker

Hard Bop

Western Bop

Be-Bop

Cubana Bop

Jazz / Blues

Beatnik

Other...

n/a