Be bop developed first in the 1940's. It's signature was fast tempo, bass line a run of quater notes 123412341234 etc., drums keep the beat with the ride cymbal, horns usually repeat the "head" a couple of times often in unison, the melody is then not emphasised but rather harmonic interactions and rapid changes. Hard bop begining in the early 50's had more varied playing by the rythm section and introduced elements of the blues and even funk into it. Cool jazz fused bop with swing and brought more melodic elements back into it. Post bop late 50's and 60's began the march towards free form jazz. Most of the people you mentioned played to one degree or another all of these styles. - Jim
Jazz guys: Bebop, Hard Bop etc.
I've been seriously into Jazz since I seriously became interested in high end gear (about 4 years). I listen primarily to jazz and primarily to Miles, Monk, Coltrane, and Rollins. I have many of the classic discs by these guys as well as some discs by Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Gene Ammons, and Wayne Shorter. I have discs by Clifford Jordan, Andrew Hill, Dexter Gordon and Eric Dolphy. I think of these guys primarily as hard bop players. I also now that their playing spanned the genres of bebop, hard bop, and post bop. But as a jazz novice, I wonder, do the jazz classics by these artists generally fall into the hard bop genre or a combination of these other genres? Thanks for your insights.