More Jazz Styles

Gil Evans, who was a former arranger for the Claude Thornhill band, took up writing for the Gerry Mulligan group and John Lewis' Modern Jazz Quartette featuring Milt Jackson on vibes.

Before long many groups were formed to become part of the cool jazz scene. There was for example, Dave Brubeck's quartette with his ever-popular "Take Five" in 5/4 time .featuring Paul Desmond on tenor sax.

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers along with Horace Silver, had a seventeen piece jazz band on the east coast. Soon, the cool jazz sound reached the ears of musicians on the west coast, who, in turn, began to incorporate the new style into their performances. Chico Hamilton organized a west coast ensemble, and trumpeter Art Farmer played a major role in the development of cool jazz on both coasts.

Since the east coast musicians were predominately white and the Los Angeles musicians were black, cool jazz became identified as black and white jazz, to signify its point of origin.

The 1960s ushered in "Free Jazz," with Ornette Coleman, (alto sax), Cecil Taylor, (piano), and John Coltrane (tenor sax). Coleman's concept of free jazz was to dispense with any and all musical forms and harmonic chord sequences. With an eight-piece ensemble, Coleman took his group into a recording studio and told the musicians to play anything they wanted, using no format as regards to melody, harmony or any pre-set form. It really became a performance of free jazz.