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Those guys are the last of the greats I know it sounds blasphemous but I think College Jazz ruined the art, back in those days you learned from older musicians or by experimenting with a group of young musicians only after they'd been sidemen with some of the greats. I see too many young players who want you marvel at their renditions of Parker, Miles and Coltrane, One of the things that sets the older generation apart from the "College Jazz Era" is the number of great Composers we have from that era.
I don't believe Parker ever went to college. What he did was a natural outgrowth of what the older musicians did. He was a breath of fresh air.
I went to North Texas State University (now U. of North Texas) and sat marvelling at the excellence of the famous Lab Bands many times. When Jazz stopped being the popular music that much of the general population listened to (Swing Era), it had to be kept alive somewhere. When I first started playing professionally, there were many Jazz clubs around for aspiring younger players to listen and 'sit in'. Those days are over, unfortunately.
However, I think I know where you're coming from, and in many cases I think that technique is allowed to subvert soulfulness. The best players can combine them, but lesser ones often simply throw a bunch of notes at the wall to see what sticks. I don't like that much either, unless I'm in the mood to be amused by it.
Coltrane and Miles spent some time in college. Coltrane, I think Columbia but it was after he came up with the "Harmonic Puzzle" called Giant Steps, Miles spent a little time at Julliard, I may be way off its been a while since I read their Biography's. what amazing is many of the great players all had band in high school and that was sufficient enough for many of them to leave home at 16-17 and play on the road. This is my own opinion here, but I think a major advantage was so many of the early bands played popular tunes of the day. Many of the players learned really well the chord progressions that most jazz was based on, Bebop superimposed new tonalities over those changes and Modal jazz discarded the standard chord changes altogether. I am amazed at how fast younger players can play, but still many of them are not really playing jazz, they are playing jazz theory, You are right playing in clubs educates players on what Jazz fans want to hear.
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Thelonius Monk-Underground
