Jazz exploded at the same time that rock and roll first sprang out of the shoot. It may be that with the death of alto saxophonist Charles "Yardbird" Parker in 1955 and the consequent end of the bebop period, something had to happen to keep the music alive without competing with commercial pop music. Maybe it was the weather. Whatever the cause, it was an era (known by the inappropriately mechanistic neologism "post bop") that saw a number of wild talents at their best: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins and Max Roach--among many others--were playing their brains out on a nightly basis from 1955 through 1960. And even better, most of them made a habit of playing on one another's albums.
--Phil Mershon
--Phil Mershon