Neo-bop is distinct from previous bop music due to the influence of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who popularized the genre as an artistic and academic endeavor opposed to the countercultural developments of the beat generation.

[2] Neo-bop was also embraced by established, straight-ahead jazz musicians who either abstained the avant-garde and fusion movements, or returned to music based on more traditional styles after experimenting with them.

The return to more traditionally-based styles earned both praise and criticism, with Miles Davis calling it "warmed over turkey"[3] and others deeming it to be too dependent on the past.

[1] While his predecessors of the previous two decades had experienced financial success in fusion genres, his commitment to the traditional definition of "jazz" caught on with a school of musicians from Marsalis' age group, including Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Wallace Roney, Kevin Eubanks, Stanley Jordan, Kenny Kirkland, and Jeff Watts.

According to critic Scott Yanow, this new subgenre remained related to the broader straight-ahead category, but was no longer "recycling the past" as some claimed.