Hard Bop

Hard bop on vinyl: Blue Note, Riverside and the Jazz Messengers

In short: Hard bop is the powerful, bluesy jazz of the fifties and sixties – bebop with more groove and with influences from gospel and rhythm & blues. Typical are quintets with trumpet and saxophone, as with Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan and Cannonball Adderley. The Vinyl Room currently has 398 hard bop records.

What is hard bop?

In the mid-fifties, East Coast musicians answered the quiet cool jazz with something earthier: Art Blakey and Horace Silver founded the Jazz Messengers, Clifford Brown and Max Roach led their quintet, and Miles Davis recorded with his quintet for Prestige. The most important labels were Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside. Classics include Art Blakey’s “Moanin’”, Sonny Rollins’ “Saxophone Colossus”, Cannonball Adderley’s “Somethin’ Else” and Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder”. Hard bop later grew into soul jazz and post bop.

What to look for

Originals from the fifties and sixties are mostly US pressings, many of them in mono. With Blue Note, the label address, the “deep groove” and the “ear” in the runout help; with Prestige and Riverside, label colour and address. Many classics are also available as good reissues, for example from the OJC series or from Japan – often an affordable way in for listening.

From our stock

Hard bop on Blue Note

Riverside & Prestige

First pressings

New in

→ Jazz on vinyl · Blue Note · Miles Davis · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

What’s the difference between bebop and hard bop? Hard bop builds on bebop but is earthier and bluesier, with more groove and influences from gospel and rhythm & blues.

Which hard bop records should you know? For example Art Blakey’s “Moanin’”, Sonny Rollins’ “Saxophone Colossus”, Cannonball Adderley’s “Somethin’ Else” and Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder”.

Which labels stand for hard bop? Above all Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside.