Lots of interesting stuff is brought to this thread. Taking all the academic study and analysis out of the equation, though, leaves you with the sounds. Music is ever-evolving and reflective of the times in which it is made. To look back through a 21st century prism in reviewing and evaluating the performers of 50 or 100 years ago must be a seductive enterprise - so many engage in it.

I have been privileged to see, in small clubs, some of the great jazz musicians of the forties, fifties and sixties - Charlie Byrd, Yusef Lateef, Cannonball and Nat Adderley, Jonah Jones, Cal Tjader, Terry Gibbs, Gerald Wilson, the Oscar Peterson Trio (with Ed Thigpen and Ray Brown)and Mose Allison, among others. They're all great to me, though I am sure I'd get arguments on their merits from some. I'm no historian, though I respect the roots of the music and those who helped it along. My first musical "idol" was trombonist Jack Teagarden. His playing and vocalizing influenced me as a folk singer, of all things.

Paul Whiteman was the "500 pound gorilla" in the music business in his heyday. He helped to make jazz, at least in some form, available to the masses who had not really heard it. A lot of them sought it out and helped popularize it as a direct result. I think jazz, in a weird way, is neither black nor white, but beige.

I am a listener and fan - a dedicated "eclecticist," if such a word exists. I love certain sounds and seek them out, in many genre. Labels don't do much for me, but the music sure does.