This thread is going better than it ever has gone; we have acquired connoisseurs of this music who are at that advanced stage where they evaluate the sidemen on the greatest jazz records. Sidemen were the artists who contributed to those great records, and in many cases were forgotten.
I'm going to go through this process to illustrate what I'm talking about. "The Sidewinder" by Lee Morgan was a great jazz record by any standard; it was even declared a great record by the masses. First, we have to know the artists on this record:
Lee Morgan – trumpet
Joe Henderson – tenor saxophone
Barry Harris – piano
Bob Cranshaw – bass
Billy Higgins – drums
Next we listen to the record;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJi03NqXfk8
Now I'm not going to evaluate, I'm going to allow you to pick which sideman you think contributed the most to this great record.