It is hard, therefore, to convey the state of shock in which the jazz community now exists. The past month has seen a dramatic toppling of icons set off by the spread of Covid-19. The pianist Ellis Marsalis, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, saxophonists Manu Dibango and Lee Konitz, bassist Henry Grimes and trumpeter Wallace Roney all died in quick succession. This grim toll follows the passing of the pianist McCoy Tyner in March. That was an ominous start to the year but few could have imagined that by spring so many tall trees on the landscape of improvised music would have been so tragically felled.

Between them, these musicians were involved in landmark chapters in the epic story of jazz, with its deep roots in black America and growth the world over. Tyner was the last surviving member of the John Coltrane quartet, a mesmerizing group that brought a profoundly spiritual dimension to the sub-genre of "modal jazz" in the 1950s and 60s, while Konitz helped to usher in the urbane "cool school" with the likes of Miles Davis, Coltrane's one-time boss. Grimes played a notable role in the transition from "bebop" to "avant-garde", backing such legends as Thelonious Monk and Albert Ayler. Dibango was a pioneer of "Afro-jazz", fusing the rhythms and vocals of his native Cameroon with a love of American soloists in the 70s. As for Roney, he was one of the great virtuoso players of the 80s, 90s and twenty-first century, who performed brilliantly in both acoustic and electric settings.

Each time a death was announced, an important piece of living history disappeared.