Jazz  •  New Orleans/Classic Jazz

Mainstream Jazz

The term Mainstream Jazz was coined by critic Stanley Dance to describe the type of music that trumpeter Buck Clayton and his contemporaries (veterans of the swing era) were playing in the 1950s. Rather than modernize their styles and play bop or join Dixieland bands (which some did on a part-time basis in order to survive), the former big-band stars (which included players like Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and Roy Eldridge) jammed standards and riff tunes in smaller groups. Mainstream, which was fairly well documented in the 1950s, was completely overshadowed by other styles in the '60s and its original players gradually passed away. However with the rise of tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton and trumpeter Warren Vache in the 1970s, as well as the beginning of the Concord label (which emphasized the music), mainstream jazz made a comeback.