I see LaFaro's tragic death as closing that period out

It's fantastic to me knowing that he was the bassist for the Bill Evans Trio. I adore Evans but now will pay particular attention to LaFargo.

LaFaro is the bassist on the right-hand channel.

Thank you, Recursion.

PBS Brubeck documentary of a few years ago. But it seems like PBS has gotten a little stingy to include even a clip of it at their site. The doc was produced while Brubeck was alive so it was wonderful for me hearing him speak of Miles Davis, and that he actually started the practice of college tours when he couldn't get booking anywhere.

Got a cool Brubeck story. Back in the '60s/'70s, my late mother-in-law was the secretary in the music department at Palomar College here in North County, San Diego. Her boss was Howard Brubeck, Dave's older brother. And the theater at Palomar is named for him, The Howard Brubeck Theater. She left when he retired in the '70s.

She would always hold her hands in a prayer position and squeeze her shoulders together when she'd talk about Dave's visits. So cute! She loved the brothers to pieces.

Rediscovering Dave https://www.pbs.org/brubeck/talking/talkingWithDaveBrubeck.htm

I recall that documentary.

It seems there is always a fallow period followed by some breakout new music. I'm looking forward (and backward).

when everybody was alive. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie to name a few.

In looking forward and backward, in the short documentary of the same year "The Cry of Jazz, 1959," one of the young musicians exclaims "Jazz is dead" in response to the future of jazz. It's about at 1:38. I remember reading that the statement was very controversial at the time. Eerily to me, another innovation in jazz was just about to drop.

I still listen to "Kind Of Blue" and "Time Out."

They are woven in the tapestry of my life!

Thanks for the thread Kind of Blue.

I was 16 at the time.

"All but one of the tracks were first takes."

HOLY COW !!!!!!!!!!!

I remember seeing some photos of the session and all of the musicians look so serious. I don't think I saw a pic of any of them smiling. So I thought this album must have taken forever to get just right.

Holy Cow, one take!

Parts of the "Giant Steps" album (including the title track) were being recorded the same day as "Mingus Ah Um".
Coltrane started recording it just two weeks after he participated in the "Kind of Blue" sessions with Miles, and it couldn't have been further from what Miles was doing.

The fact that Atlantic didn't release "Giant Steps" until 1960 doesn't make it any less a 1959 album...at least in my opinion.

It was just as pivotal as the other four because it was a transitional album that pointed to an organized way for an improviser to go "outside" the chord changes without completely abandoning them, as Ornette was doing. After "Giant Steps", Coltrane quickly realized that the rhythm section didn't need to pound out all of the "Trane changes" that made up a lot of the harmonic material on the album. Coltrane quickly moved toward simplifying the harmony of the piano and bass, leaving him to play his chord substitutions on top of them. This created the sound that he was playing outside, but with logical harmonic intent.

So, while technically not a 1959 release, "Giant Steps" was being created at the same time, and was equally as important, as the four albums mentioned in the documentary.

album of 1959. But I don't think it's a coincidence "The Cry of Jazz, 1959" semi-doc was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2010 and "1959: The Year that Change Jazz" came out the same year. I think someone remembered the highly controversial Jazz is Dead statement and discussion in "The Cry." It caused an uproar and divided intellectuals from Ralph Ellison to young LeRoi Jones (Amir Baraka) at the time.

I feel "1959: The Year" was in reaction to the "The Cry" about to hit the National Archives and the producers wanted to keep the time-line constrained to the same year to prove jazz was far from dead.

If that makes any sense

Will seek it out to watch it.

Thanks.

I hope you enjoy it!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/118767064

My pleasure for sure.