The past year saw the passing of a number of great jazz artists. Ken Laster does a nice tribute to them at In The Grove: Jazz and Beyond. You can hear selections from Oscar Peterson, Max Roach, Alice Coltrane, Michael Brecker, and Joe Zawinul. I know the work of all but the last. Oscar Peterson was the best known jazz man to pass this last year. I listened to a lot of Oscar Peterson's piano when I was first getting into jazz, in the 1980's. Drummer Max Roach probably had the greatest reputation among jazz fans, if only for his long tenure.
To this list I would add Frank Morgan, alto sax player from the Twin Cities. I confess that I only heard his work just after he died. You can get a good taste of his music at YouAreWhatYouHear, where you can find a lot of live jazz. This link takes you too a recording of Morgan in Switzerland, in 2003. Whatever complaints I may have about Europe, they are better custodians of jazz and than we Americans often are. At that same site you can also find a marvelous concert by Oscar Peterson, at Cologne, in 1970.
The heroic period in jazz is long over. It has proven almost impossible for jazz artists who emerged since the 1950's to establish the same status as those who worked in that fertile period from the 30's to the mid-60's. The task for jazz fans now is to give proper respect to contemporary artists. But that is retarded by hero worship. None of this means that we shouldn't pour our libations to the heroes as they go to the heavens.
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