Armstrong, Ellington, Parker and the others are gods. But Newton is one of a thousand worthy angels. Jazz is too capacious, generous and lively an art to surrender to either approach, for in the end, concise survey and minute specialization tend to encourage a listener's digest with most of the good parts missing. The one truth about jazz of which I am certain is that it incarnates liberty, often with a stubbornly proud intransigence, merging with everything and borrowing anything, yet ultimately riding alone. Unlike pop, it doesn't measure success with sales charts.
Jazz does what it wants when it wants and pays the price of commercial marginality.
Not a bad thing, independence. It's what hooked many of us on art and jazz in the first place. Gary Giddins is the jazz critic for the Village Voice and the author of several books about American music. Copyrighted by Michael Cooke,1996.