Could it be that we are living in a great era of jazz?

Started by André Le Nôtre, October 01, 2020, 01:20:11 PM

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André Le Nôtre

I hear lots of people (not necessarily here) pining for Coltrane, Miles, Armstrong, Parker, et al. However, as great and indespensible as those guys are/were, it seems to me that some of our current crop of jazz musicians/artists--including some of the legends who are still active, like Sonny Rollins--also have attained a tremendous level of artistry, originality, technical prowess, and many are pushing the boundaries and taking up influences from other genres. People like Tyshawn Sorey, Christian Scott, Vijay Iyer, Matthew Shipp, Horace Tapscott (RIP), Brad Meldhau, and a whole host of others whose names escape me at the moment, are prime examples. Nordic jazz has some incredible talent to boast as well--the far less known Arve Henriksen, Iro Haarla, Mathias Eick are well worth looking into.

I have noticed a many wonderful recent vocalists (mostly female) recently, combining great voices with very interesting new material and material from unusual sources. I love the old standards, but if I have to hear another version of "I loves you porgy" or "Summertime", I'm gonna scream. (The subject of jazz vocalists deserves a thread of its own!)

Maybe none of these people will live up to the giants of the early jazz or bebop eras, but I think, some day in the bleak horrible future, we will look back to the the 2000s--at least up until now--as an overlooked and underappreciated era.

What are your thoughts? Who among living, especially younger jazz musicians, may be future greats alongside Armstrong, Miles, Coltrane, etc??

BWV 1080

If great Jazz is made but nobody listens to it, does it exist?

Scion7

Great era of LISTENING, which is fine.
But the great artists succeeded with their major accomplishments  by circa 1972 or so.  Nothing really new in Jazz since then, but some great music was written and recorded clear into the 80's.  There's been a lot of humbug about things in the current scene, but that's not really Jazz music. 
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Pap

Lot's of great jazz is still being made; Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, Bobo Stenson, Marsalis Brothers, FeenBrothers, Christian McBride, Carmen Gomes, Ulf Wakenius, Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Gidon Nunez Vaz, Lage Lund, Mike Del Ferro, Fred Hersch, Jakob Bro, Steve Swallow,