Jazz guys: Bebop, Hard Bop etc.

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

Let's see... in addition to the Bebop there's the A-bop, C-bop, D-bop and re-bop... Now that Starbucks sells music they have the half-caf grande latte-bop... but seriously folks - most of the players you've mentioned would cringe at any attempts to pidgeon hole them - I'm cringing too.
You're missing Mingus and Ornette - throw in some John Scofield for good measure and you'll have a quite a collection.

Gdoodle: I happen to be listening to Mingus as I type this, and I have almost all of John Scofield's discography in my collection. He happens to be my favorite guitarist. I did not post all the jazz I enjoy listening to. I don't have any Ornette Coleman yet. I haven't heard much of his work and not been grabbed by what I have heard. No need to cringe Gdoodle, I'm not trying to pigeonhole these artists- I'm trying to understand these genres and how one differentiates them. I greatly enjoy what I hear; I'd like to be able to tell the differences as I move hear these genres. Re-reading my post, I think I did a poor job of communicating that. It would be slighting their art to try to pigeonhole them. That is definitely not it for me.

Hey that's cool - sounds like we like a lot of the same stuff. I was just trying to add a little humor (very little). Can someone really define a genre in words - withOUT just listing a bunch of players? I think at best you'll settle for is "periods" of music. I guess I learned a lot about jazz by reading album liner notes - wikipedia has a long entry for bebop and hard bop - and lists of musicians that might answer your question.

Check out Ornettes early stuff - "The Shape of Jazz to Come". Scofled is one of my faves - seen him 6-8 times...

Check out Grant Green, Nat Adderly, Cannonball Adderly, and Donald Byrd, just the artists that come to mind while I'm at work.