Eric Dolphy was the person who I had in mind when I made this thread. He never seemed to really reach the mainstream enough to have as massive an effect on the jazz world as someone like Miles or Coltrane might have, but I think that given even as little as two or three more years he could have revolutionized the jazz scene just as significantly. Just before he died, he released Out to Lunch!, an incredibly significant avant-garde (not free, really) record. He also collaborated with the Instant Composers Pool as his last performance. I'd like to see where he would be at if he had a longer life span, but I can't quite predict where he'd go because Out to Lunch! is incredibly fresh, even today. It's a shame that he ended on his most innovative note.
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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.
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