It's not THE most important scale. I'd say the Major scale (and it's modes) and the chromatic are more fundamental and more important. But yeah, the bebop scale is important if you want to play jazz.
The purpose of bebop scales are to put chord tones on down beats. They add in chromatic passing tones in order to make this happen. So all you're really doing is adding one note (to begin with) to a scale you should already know. Sounds easy but it can get hard sometimes. A lot of the bop language utilizes this scale and it helps a lot to understand the concept so that when you see it happen, you know what's going on.
Might I suggest David Baker's "How to Play Bebop." It's not a workbook. It won't give you exercises(mostly), but it does do a good job of explaining the bop language.
For a workbook/playalong with more specific exercises, I've used Jerry Bergonzi's "Inside Improvisation Volume 3: Jazz Line"
I don't know anything about the Black book.
The purpose of bebop scales are to put chord tones on down beats. They add in chromatic passing tones in order to make this happen. So all you're really doing is adding one note (to begin with) to a scale you should already know. Sounds easy but it can get hard sometimes. A lot of the bop language utilizes this scale and it helps a lot to understand the concept so that when you see it happen, you know what's going on.
Might I suggest David Baker's "How to Play Bebop." It's not a workbook. It won't give you exercises(mostly), but it does do a good job of explaining the bop language.
For a workbook/playalong with more specific exercises, I've used Jerry Bergonzi's "Inside Improvisation Volume 3: Jazz Line"
I don't know anything about the Black book.
