Here is just a partial list of the names of jazz legends (some appearing solely as sidemen/accompanists): Art Hodes, Sidney Bechet, Mezz Mezzrow, Willie “The Lion” Smith, James P. With exceptions for Ellington, Basie, Armstrong and a few others, The Black and White label was motivated in putting the jazz titans of this era together in groupings for approximate (4-6 tracks), the time length of a 78 rpm album. What makes this massive 11 CD set so valuable, and historically significant, is that in barely seven years they recorded most everyone not exclusively tied to a major label. This stuff hadn’t been done yet until Don started playing them.” – Billy Taylor They were long phrases and new ways of using harmonies so that they sounded like the dominant melody. What I mean by pre-bop is he was playing things that led up to bebop. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. Don was trying to do that on the tenor back then. They both had heard Art’s seamless runs on the piano. He and Coltrane had the same idea for the same reason. He was trying to make the tenor saxophone sound like Art Tatum. He was way ahead of Coltrane on those sheets of sound. What the Europeans heard him play was the beginning of what John Coltrane and others like him eventually did. He did something that was unbelievable in terms of really playing and showing the Europeans that the music was moving forward. Pianist Billy Taylor waxes poetic in a JazzWax article on the importance of Don Byas and what he meant to not only tenor saxophonists but to improvisors in general on any instrument.

Keith jarrett summertime transcription