The techniques and instrumentation of this type of performance have evolved over the 20th century, influenced by both movements of musicians that became the subgenres and by particularly influential sax players who helped reshape the music.
The development of bebop in the 1940s reflected broader societal changes, with African American musicians asserting greater creative freedom and breaking away from the constraints of commercial swing music.
In the 1950s, sax players like tenor saxophonist John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins broke new ground in jazz, infusing their music with rhythm and blues, modal, Latin and gospel influences as part of the hard bop subgenre.
In the early 1960s, Woody Herman's lead "(Four) Brother", Stan Getz, played cool jazz with Brazilian musicians in the emerging bossa nova style.
Artists such as Vi Redd and Peggy Gilbert contributed significantly to the jazz scene, both as performers and as advocates for gender equality in the music industry.