O-10, thanks for your response. For the sake of hopefully interesting discussion:
What makes you think that Cuber was imitating Adams? He was not. He was improvising around the music AS WRITTEN by Mingus bringing his own style to it. He sounded very different from Pepper. Also, why do you assume that the “new generation” of players are not improvising? You seem to be suggesting that only the players from the past improvised. Obviously, not so. Different, yes; and in some ways more harmonically advanced. Anyone of us may not like this newer, harmonically thornier style, but it is certainly spontaneous improvisation and it is the nature of this music to build on what came before it. I look forward to your comments.
What makes you think that Cuber was imitating Adams? He was not. He was improvising around the music AS WRITTEN by Mingus bringing his own style to it. He sounded very different from Pepper. Also, why do you assume that the “new generation” of players are not improvising? You seem to be suggesting that only the players from the past improvised. Obviously, not so. Different, yes; and in some ways more harmonically advanced. Anyone of us may not like this newer, harmonically thornier style, but it is certainly spontaneous improvisation and it is the nature of this music to build on what came before it. I look forward to your comments.