Jazz Musicians, 1945 to the Present

From its very beginnings, the nature of jazz has been to reinvent itself. As the musical genre evolved from its roots—blues, European music, Voodoo ceremonies, and brass bands that played at funerals, parades and celebrations—the sound reflected the tenor of the times, from the citified strains of the Roaring ’20s to the Big Band swing of pre–World War II to the bop revolution that grew out of the minimalist sound the war forced upon the art form. That the music continued to develop and evolve is a tribute to the power and creativity of its musicians. Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan, Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Diana Krall, Archie Shepp, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis, Larry Coryell, and Kenny Kirkland are just some of the jazz greats profiled here. The five major periods of jazz—the bop revolution, hard bop and cool jazz, the avant-garde, fusion, and contemporary—form the basis for the sections in this reference work, with a brief history of each period provided. The artists who were integral to the evolution of each period are then profiled. Each biographical entry focuses on the artist’s life and his or her influence on jazz and on music as a whole. A complete discography for each musician is also provided.

David Dicaire is the author of numerous works about music history. He lives in Leamington, Ontario, Canada.

David Dicaire

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 292
Bibliographic Info: discographies, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2006
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2097-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8557-4
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

PART ONE: THE BOP REVOLUTION      7
Kenny Clarke (1914–1985) Klook’s Blues      10
Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993) The Bop Catalyst      15
Thelonious Monk (1917–1982) Epistrophy Blues      23
Charlie Parker (1920–1955) Bird’s Blues      28
Oscar Pettiford (1922–1960) Deep Passion      35
Barney Kessel (1923–2004) Guitar Goes Bop      38
J. J. Johnson (1924–2001) Trombone Goes Bop      44
Bud Powell (1924–1966) Hot House Blues      50
Sarah Vaughan (1924–1990) The Divine Miss V      56
Oscar Peterson (1925–) Canadian Suite      62
Sonny Rollins (1930–) The Cutting Edge      67

PART TWO: HARD BOP AND COOL JAZZ      73
Art Blakey (1919–1990) Freedom Rider      75
Dave Brubeck (1920–) Take Five      81
Charles Mingus (1922–1979) The Boss of the Bass      85
Dexter Gordon (1923–1990) West Coast Tenorman      92
Wes Montgomery (1923–1968) Little Brother      99
Max Roach (1925–) Driva Man      103
Jimmy Smith (1925–2005) Funky Cool Blues      110
Miles Davis (1926–1991) The Cool One      114
Horace Silver (1928–) Finger Poppin’ Jazz      120
Herbie Mann (1930–2003) Flute Soufflé      124
Jackie McLean (1932–) Jackie’s Bag      128

PART THREE: FREE JAZZ AND THE AVANT-GARDE      133
Sun Ra (1914–1993) Cosmic Tones      135
Yusef Lateef (1926–) An Eastern Taste      140
John Coltrane (1926–1967) Giant Steps      144
Elvin Jones (1927–2004) Heavy Sounds      150
Eric Dolphy (1928–1964) Outward Bound      155
Cecil Taylor (1929–) The Note Painter      159
Ornette Coleman (1930–) Tone Dialing      163
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1936–1977) Saxophone Concerto      168
Archie Shepp (1937–) The Articulate Spokesman      172
Charlie Haden (1937–) Haunted Hearts      178
Anthony Braxton (1945–) The Professor’s Approach      182

PART FOUR: JAZZ FUSION      191
Wayne Shorter (1933–) Ju Ju’s Blues      193
Herbie Hancock (1940–) The Chameleon      197
Chick Corea (1941–) Man on a Mission      202
John McLaughlin (1942–) Mahavishnu Blues      207
Larry Coryell (1943–) The Electric Jazz Warrior      211
Tony Williams (1945–1997) The Powerhouse      216
Billy Cobham (1946–) The Panamanian Percussionist      220
Stanley Clarke (1951–) Individual Strings      223
Jaco Pastorius (1951–1987) The Brazilian Bass Man      227

PART FIVE: CONTEMPORARY JAZZ      231
Kenny Kirkland (1955–1998) The New Piano Thing      232
Jeff “Tain” Watts (1960– ) Citizen Tain      236
Branford Marsalis (1960– ) The First Family of Jazz      239
Wynton Marsalis (1961– ) The Young Lion      243
John Medeski (1965– ) Acid Jazz Grooves      248
Diana Krall (1965– ) Frim Fram Sauce Blues      252
Mark Whitfield (1967– ) The Marksman      256
Christian McBride (1972– ) Freewheeling Bass      260

Bibliography      265
Index      269

“highly readable…informative”—ARBA.