Oscar Pettiford - Oscar Rides Again

As Charlie Christian created the modern electric guitar style, the story of modern bass begins with Jimmy Blanton. Both Christian and Blanton stepped onto the main jazz stage in 1939, with the bands of Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington respectively. Both men died of lung disease in their early twenties in 1942 and both men left indelible marks in the history of jazz in their short lives, during which they revolutionised the playing of their respective instruments by turning them into solo instruments. Oscar Pettiford was the man who inherited Jimmy Blanton's role, when he became Duke Ellington's bassist soon after Blanton's death. Pettiford became an all-time king of jazz, the most talented jazz bassist of the BeBop era, his mobility on the bass was consistently amazing. His wonderfully propulsive bass playing told a story as only Oscar Pettiford could, but somehow one feels that, like Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford has never truly been given his due.