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Originally Posted by tombrown1  Did Satch hold back jazz when he played in the same style for about 50 years? Did Diz hold back jazz when he did the same thing for 50 years? What about guys like Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, and Freddie Hubbard - they made themselves into giants without advancing jazz into a new era. |
Freddie and lee and Clifford may not have advanced jazz, but they are three of the main people who shaped the way jazz trumpet was played.
Clifford came along and showed us how incredible good technique and solid time can sound. Lee showed us that the blues is everywhere and that the trumpet can speak like a human. Freddie (and woody shaw) showed us that not just sax players can get all around the horn with blinding speed and emotion. They took the formerly linear approach to trumpet improv and showed the world that you could play totally harmonically as well. All of these guys also introduced the world to hard bop. That was a new style of music fusing bebop and blues together. I would say they all ushered in a new era, although it might not have been as significant as modal jazz or coltrane, it was still important in the overall scheme of things.
I want to stay out of this Wynton thing, but I just have to say how strongly I disagree with the statement on the first page that wynton is the most important trumpet player of the century. That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard.