Lots of interesting and some good music mentioned here.Nice to see Barry Guy's name mentioned.The London Jazz Composer orchestra has recorded several cd's worthy of inclusion and scrutiny,and this is not music for the faint of heart as it will challenge all your senses,most notably your patience and your conventional sense of harmony melody and rhythm.Also nice to see Alan Broadbent among the names here,a massive talent and a brilliant pianist whose teacher Lennie Tristano always cited the single most important attribute of any Jazz improvisor is the "ability to swing".If you don't swing,nothing else will follow in the Jazz chain.Tristano was maligned in the late 40's and early 50's for being cold and detatched from the Jazz medium when he assembled his sextet of students,notably saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh and in 1949 recorded for Capitol.The issued sides were complex,cerebral BeBop and,yes,very swinging.The two tracks recorded,but rejected,were examples of what Tristano taught and his other main point...."the most important part of playing Jazz...is the ability to feel" to improvise,and these were two completly improvised pieces..."Intution" and "Digression" far ahead of their time for 1949 and the single most important departure from the Charlie Parker influenced music of the period.Tristano took a lot of heat for this free thought in Jazz but was solid in his understanding of the base for which to depart...The melodic invention of Louis Armstrong,The fluid decomposition of the bar line as illustrated by Lester Young,the ability to swing with an organic flow like Billie Holiday and the fire and passion of attack like Roy Eldridge.He taught these masters,and added Bird's uncanny stream of improvisatory mastery over harmony,melody and rhythm.
Lennie Tristano created a chamber music enviroment for Jazz improvisation.It fell upon mostly deaf ears and he was a recluse for most of his life,teaching in his studio,bitter to the lack of understanding the public gave him.Not to mention the press,record companies and the Jazz clubs.Listen to the "Bands for Bonds" broadcasts with Charlie Parker or the Metronome All stars of 1949 with Bird and you will hear the amazing sensitivity and fire these two created.From two opposite poles of Jazz improvisation they met on common ground and created mostly unheard masterpieces.