After beginning in New York City, progressive or cool jazz developed primarily on the West Coast in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Intense yet ironically relaxed tonal sonorities are the major characteristic of this jazz form, while the melodic line is less convoluted than in bop. Lester Young's style was fundamental to the music of the cool saxophonists Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, and Stan Getz, Miles Davis played an important part in the early stages, and the influence of virtuoso pianists Lennie Tristano and Bill Evans were all-pervasive. The music was accepted more gracefully by the public and critics than bop, and the pianist Dave Brubeck became its most widely known performer.
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