HOME ESSENTIALS NEW MUSIC CLASSIC JAZZ BIG BAND/SWING TRADITIONAL JAZZ
Louis Armstrong, Buke Ellington, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman defined an era; Miles Davis and Charlie Parker another; and Thelonis Monk and Charles Mingus another. These artists were not content to regurgitate previous music, but rework the context, expand the limits of instrumentation and take risks into uncharted musical territory. The music they created lives on and laid the foundation for the many years to come.
All the music you've ever heard in your life is somewhere in your head. I don't reject that, I use it.—Don PullenIt is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line.—Duke Ellington
There are some records that stand the test of time;
Dave Brubeck's Time Out
, Miles Davis' The Birth of the Cool
, Stan Getz's Bossa Nova albums, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters
, among others. These records crossed over into general record sales and pushed jazz forward to the masses. Brubeck's Quartet was popular on college campuses all other the country and the world. The title Take Five
sold 45 rpm records to a whole new audience. The vocalists took over from the Big Bands and Julie Christy, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'day, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Torme' became household names.
