Even before you grasp the technical complexities, you can hear this element of self-expression. When I praise the artistry of, say, a Charles Mingus or a Lester Young or a Bill Evans, it is in large part due to the fact that their music has brought me into some kind of relationship with them. I never met them, but I feel I know them—and with an unshakeable certainty that is, to some degree, a measure of their greatness as jazz artists.
