Sidney Bechet, "Summertime".
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Tho the Armstrong narrative has kinda won, Bechet is one of the legit competitors for "definer of jazz".
(Neither of them invented jazz, per se. They both made it something that came to dominate popular music for 40 years.)
There's a story, maybe from Gary Giddens(?), of them playing in London on the same stage at the same time.
The report cited said they stood on opposite ends of the stage, and stalked around each end like lions.
I'm not opposed to the Armstrong version, or, not exactly.
Armstrong, Bechet, and Waller were all three *stunning* players, and they all three were defining a new understanding of music.
I am partial to Armstrong. But Bechet & Waller were both older.
All three took some time to realize that they needed to play with people who were their peers. Arguably, Waller never quite did.
But it was *Goodman*, way late, and in no way a "definer", who said, yeah, fuck it, I'm that good, and I want people around me who are that good. And I think he did that first, and Armstrong & Bechet, tho both had played with great players, realized from Goodman that playing with great players was the way forward.
This is just a narrative. Please, no fisticuffs.
But consider Goodman's "Moon Glow".
Kids.
That's Benny, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa.
This is an *ending*, of course, not a beginning. Bechet & Armstrong had already begun to record with people who could keep up with them. This is 1936.
But that movement, from "I'm the star" to "I lead the stars", was *real*.
(Arguably, Artie Shaw was the better raw player. But he had a really hard time getting people to play with him, and it wasn't until the Artie Shaw Quintet that he came in to Goodman's league.)
I already gave you Goodman with the stars.
Didja ever hear Bechet with the stars?
Here's "Really The Blues".
