Paul -
I think of the Swing Era in jazz and the Tin Pan Alley era of American songwriting. There were countless working musicians back then, and countless working songwriters. And while there were quite a few titans that we remember and praise to this day -- musicians like Lester Young or Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington etc, and songwriters like Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer and George Gershwin -- the vast majority of those musicians and songwriters were simply that: "working men", most of whom are now forgotten. They were good (but not great) at their crafts/on their instruments, and they were in it mostly to make a living; and, while they occasionally did some outstanding work, most of the time they stuck with the same basic (and popular, and populist) riffs and the same well-worn patterns and had no illusions/belief that they were making art or serving a higher purpose. Their "job" was to make uncomplicated music for people to dance to or writing trifling songs for people to hum for a month or two until the next trifle came along. Now, from my perspective there is nothing wrong with that: they made their livings honourably and enjoyed doing something they liked; but if truth be told they often "mailed in" their solos and "whipped off" their latest love song. And, truth be told, even some of the titans occasionally (maybe more than occasionally) slacked off, and mailed it in, and settled for mediocrity. The difference was that some of the titans, Duke Ellington for example, *did* have a self-understanding of themselves as "artists", and did think that the work they were doing was important, i.e. adding to/shaping culture in new directions, as when Gershwin wrote "Rhapsody in Blue" to celebrate a uniquely American spirit in the forms of European classicism. All of which is to say: I think of some of the ODGs -- the ones we remember and celebrate at least -- as the same kind of "titans". Sure, they too sometimes weren't very good or mailed one in or did it for the money; but some of them, some of the time, and when at their best, understood themselves to be doing something of import, and saw themselves as "artist-craftsmen" and not simply as "working men", and they knew/hoped that their very best work would be around for a very long time for others to play and enjoy. Dr. Mac was one of these, one of these titans; but as Mike Y suggests, I think we tend to glorify the entire era because of the existence of a relatively few titans; and I think this glorification is supported by the fact that much of the work of the "working men" from the Golden Age and beyond has long ago disappeared, renovated beyond recognition or ploughed-under for housing.
Peter