New York in the 1940s: During World War II, the vibrant metropolis gives rise to Bebop, arguably the most controversial and perhaps the most influential style in the history of jazz. A music whose fragmentation and fragility, insane tempos, and dissonant tonal language seem to reflect a time that had gone awry. Is Bebop, in its complexity, the musical expression of a very specific New York urban experience? This book explores the connections between music and the city. It specifically examines the role that New York played in the emergence and development of Bebop. Economic, political, and urban geographical factors are linked with musical analysis - the location-based examination of the style's development ultimately seeks to answer the question: Is Bebop the sound of New York in the 1940s?.