“1959 began with a very special issue of Esquire magazine called ‘The Golden Age of Jazz,’ a full issue devoted to this idea,” says Nate Chinen of member station WBGO and NPR’s Jazz Night in America. “The year opens with this bold proclamation, and I think it was in some ways a self-fulfilling prophecy.” . . .  [M]any fans hold that 1959 is the greatest year in all of jazz music. There are countless think pieces exploring the idea, a popular new blog [the 1959 project] devoted to the subject and even a documentary film, 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz.

“More Than Kind of Blue in 1959: A Few Albums Changed Jazz Forever,” NPR, Morning Edition, April 29, 2019

Chinen discusses the concept of the golden year of jazz using ground breaking albums released in 1959:

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue; John Coltrane: Giant Steps Dave Brubeck [Quartet]: Time Out, Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come; and Charles Mingus: Ah Um

What a treat! Beginning with Davis and ending with Coleman, this musical snapshot, as presented by Chinen, really does seem like the shape of jazz to come.

Life is a lot like jazz. It’s best when you improvise. George Gershwin