POST-BOP IN THE WORK OF WYNTON MARSALIS

Abstract

The article explores the phenomenon of post-bop as one of the leading directions in the development of jazz art in the second half of the 20th century and outlines its key stylistic characteristics, in particular, the attraction to modal harmony, extended rhythmic structures, and the synthesis of elements of various jazz movements. Special attention is paid to the work of the outstanding American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who appears as one of the central figures of the jazz renaissance of the 1980s. Marsalis’ characteristic compositional techniques and improvisational approaches, as well as the combination of tradition and modern elements, are analyzed.It is emphasized that Marsalis, unlike most contemporary trumpeters, combined in-depth academic training with the traditions of jazz performance, which determined his unique style and defined him as one of the main reformers and popularizers of acoustic jazz.The article argues that the post-bop aesthetic in Marsalis’s work is manifested in complex chord sequences, unconventional metrorhythms, structural freedom of compositions, and intense collective interaction between the ensemble members. The characteristic features of his improvisational language, which combines traditional melodic contours with modern harmonic solutions and intertextual allusions to the work of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and other prominent representatives of the jazz avant-garde, are analyzed. The role of Marsalis as a teacher and cultural figure who actively promotes jazz, while avoiding fusion experiments with electronics, instead remaining faithful to the acoustic tradition, is also emphasized.It has been established that Wynton Marsalis’s activities in the field of post-bop not only revived interest in traditional forms of jazz, but also launched a new wave of interpretations and innovative searches aimed at preserving and at the same time updating the jazz heritage in the context of modern cultural processes.