Old men pine for their glory days. Miles Davis confessed a bittersweet nostalgia for hard bop even as he pushed himself and his collaborators into a then-uncert

Old men pine for their glory days. Miles Davis confessed a bittersweet nostalgia for hard bop even as he pushed himself and his collaborators into a then-uncertain jazz-rock. The young folks who idolise them confuse that nostalgia for capital-t Truth and I think that has led to a nucleus of purism. (I say this as a reformed purist myself.) But it’s a nucleus with the tiny scale that connotes…most of the top pros in the most straightahead jazz today have diverse musical interests and ambitions.