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Hard Bop

Hard Bop is a style of jazz music developed in the mid-1950s as a reaction to the softer, more introspective sounds of cool jazz. It is characterized by a strong backbeat, bluesy melodic lines, and improvisations based on the blues and modal scales. The style draws heavily on African-American musical influences, including blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues. It was popularized by artists such as Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, and Clifford Brown. Hard bop eventually gave way to the more complex and experimental sounds of free jazz and fusion in the late 1960s and early 1970s.