Chicago is a historic capital of early jazz and post-World War II blues, but in the 1950s and early 60s it also had a thriving hardbop scene. While jazz luminaries such as Gene Ammons, Eddie Harris and Johnny Griffin all emerged from this scene, it also featured numerous talented players who achieved varied or limited degrees of recognition, such as trumpeter and saxophonist Ira Sullivan, bassist Wilbur Ware, and saxophonists John Jenkins and Von Freeman (who has finally gained some renown in recent years). These musicians played hardbop with a bluesy, brawny edge, suffused with what Chicago native and jazz critic Larry Kart calls “an air of downhome experimentation."
