Comment on 'Islam and Bebop Jazz'

Submitted by Colin (United Kingdom), Dec 30, 2013 at 15:58

Thanks for your interesting article Dr Pipes. However I think it overstates the case for Islam being the unofficial religion of bebop. Charlie Parker, one of the founders of bebop, for example was addicted to heroin and then to alcohol and died at 34 of the latter - no obvious connection with Islam here!. Dizzy Gillespie moved on from bebop into afro-cuban jazz. Never a mention of Islam in either case. John Coltrane dabbled with Islam but also had an interest in other world religions.

So yes, Islam was part of the story and obviously an important part for some of those who played bebop (and for later musicians too) but I don't think it was more than that.

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