[Rhhm]

I'm interested in learning about new sounds that people are listening to in jazz.  I did a search of a few of my favourite artists, and there was nothing.  I'm not talking about Miles or Coltrane or Ornette or Monk or Mingus or?  They're the greatest, and I routinely search out their best recordings.  As a matter of fact, I just picked up Coltrane and Monk Live at Carnegie Hall and the complete Riverside recordings  - IMHO, these are indispensable recordings.  And I'm also not talking about Patricia Barber or Brad Mehldau or Diana Krall (all great piano players).  I'm talking about new stuff (read "modern" jazz or "post-modern" jazz).  I've been introduced to all of these musicians at the Vanouver International Jazz Festival.  What's in your collection that have become favourites?  Here are a few of mine in no particular order...

1.  Eric Boeren 4tet "Joy of a Toy" (Bvhaast)- mainly the music of Ornette Coleman.  A great band with Michael Moore (see below), Wilbert de Joode, and Han Bennink who is one of the most amazing / entertaining drummers I have ever seen.
2.  Per "Texas" Johansson "Man Kan Lika Garna" (Kaza/EMI)- all original stuff with catchy tunes; a great sax/clarinet player from Sweden.  Myself and the rest of the audience was blown away by them a few years ago.
3.  Atomic "Boom Boom" (Jazzland Acoustic)- another great group I saw backing up the Dave Holland Quintet at the VIJF a couple of years ago.  Melodic, driving, sometimes free - their cover of Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" is memorable.  From Norway.
4.  Michael Moore "Jewels and Binoculars" (Ramboy).  This is one of my favourite musicians who was from the States and now lives in Amsterdam.  This CD of Bob Dylan's music is my favourite of his - great music and unbelievable sound from a trio - demonstration quality to be sure .  Again, another musician who I've seen at the VIJF a few times.  "Chamber jazz" to be sure...
5.  Nils Petter Molvaer (any of his stuff) (ECM and Universal).  Again, I saw him at the VIJF on two different occasions, and he had the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver totally grooving to his electronic sounds.  If Miles was around today, this is probably what he'd be doing... heavy bass beats interspersed with atmospheric electronics and Molvaer's plaintive trumpet sound.  I managed to turn a number of twenty-something friends on to him, and they've even bought his stuff instead of downloading it for free!  Also from Norway - what's going on over there, anyways, with all these great musicians.
6.  Eric Truffaz "Bending New Corners" (Blue Note).  Another young and new trumpet player from France / Switzerland that features the rapper Nya (!!!).  Very listenable and approachable.
7.  Bik Bent Braam "Goes Bansai" (CDBBB2) - Totally crazy big band stuff - think Armstrong meets Ellington meets Coleman, and you're part way there... perhaps not for the unadventuresome.
8.  Hard Rubber Orchestra "Rub Harder" (Victo).  This is a local Vancouver stage band that plays really interesting compositions that fringe on a mixture of classical avant-garde and jazz - they also have a salsa incarnation under the name of "Orquestra Goma Doro" (Hard Rubber Orchestra in Spanish - I think that's how you spell it).

I love this stuff, and I'm really interested in getting turned on to anything similar that you might be listening to.  It always seems that from one VIJF to the next, I'm at a loss as to what to buy to fill the void to hear this kind of "modern" jazz.

[mjosef]

Hey welcome to AC...I have Eric Truffaz 2005 Saloua cd and it introduced this artist to me, favorable so. Not sure if you are looking for mainly European artist or just musicians pushing the boundaries of the music some call jazz...
Here are some of my favorite musicians making/creating modern music today
E.S.T. a trio out of Sweden
Dave Douglas...I think he is in the stage Miles was in the 60's, ideas flowing all over the place.
Jason Moran, forget those 'other' piano players...this guy mind works in mysterious way.
Greg Osby, sax player...check out his cds, 'channel three' and 'public'...you can't go wrong with any of his cds.
I like a lot of what Nels Cline does, for a really wild and adventurous ride through some of the music of John Coltrane, check out Nels Cline and Gregg Bendian duo performance on Interstellar Space Revisited: the music of John Coltrane.

[steve k]

I'll second the Moran and IMO Dave Douglas is one of the most creative artists in jazz today. Some of my other current favs are:
Vijay Iyer-"Reimagining"--good trio, very angular, complex music.

Russell Gunn-"Young Gunn Plus" a young trumpet player from St. Louis deep in the bop tradition but blending hiphop into his music. Two good bands on this album including John Hicks and Branford Marsalis.

Don Byron--"Romance with the Unseen"--Byron is a bit of a chameleon changing genres a lot but he plays some great music on this disc with Jack DeJohnette and Bill Frisell

Stefon Harris--"Black Action Figure"--talented vibes player with a modern approach. He plays much like a horn player on this album with long fluid lines.

Dick de Graaf Soundroots Quartet--"Schubert Impressions--Live att he Bird's Eye Jazzclub"-I heard this tenor player locally and he has a big pure open sound like Coltrane or Lloyd with a classical bent

Kenny Wheeler--"It Takes Two"--Mellow, intimate flugelhorn work on this cut with John Abercrombie, Anders Jormin and John Parricelli

and last but not least my current favorite player: Charles Lloyd--the guy just seems to play better and better and gets more spiritual with each new release from the post bop works like "Notes from Big Sur" and "Water is Wide" to his double CD with his lifelong close friend, Billy Higgins, the duet: "Which Way is East" to the great double CD-"Lift Every Voice" and his current live trio act "Sangam" with Eric Harland and Zakir Hussain. Lloyd seems to constantly evolve musically, experimenting in middle eastern styles and playing eastern instruments yet his style and approach remain a constant--a pure musician.

Interesting thread!
steve

[Rhhm]

Just to reply to mjosef, I don't really care if the musicians are from Europe...  it just seems that's where a lot of really interesting stuff is coming from.  And kudos to the organizers of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival for showcasing a great number of European artists every year, including E.S.T.  I just like what a lot of the new generation of forward thinking jazz musicians are doing with not only the bop and hard bop formats, but with world music, electronica / ambient music, and what was formerly considered "avante-garde" classical.

I really like Dave Douglas, too.  I have "Strange Liberation" and think it's great.  I've been looking for "Convergence" locally after reading a great review of it in the Penguin Jazz Guide, but will probably have to resort to Amazon.com.  It's amazing the range of players he manages to harness like Bill Frisell, Mark Feldman (has anyone heard his new CD?), and Chris Potter.  He has also recorded a few things with some of the heavyweights in the Vancouver jazz scene on Spool, but I haven't had a chance to check them out.  This is obviously a guy who loves playing and experimenting with music.

Chris Potter is another interesting musician.  Although I'm not a sax player, he must be one of the greatest players around at the moment.  His solo work plus the stuff he does with Dave Holland is sometimes mind boggling.  There's a solo on "Extended Play" where he goes into double time and my mind can't keep up with what he's doing, kind of like Parker.

I've just put Jason Moran on my list...  Hopefully this thread will keep going for those of us who like listening to serious new jazz...

[mjosef]

Its true that Europe is bringing us some very exciting new music, especially during the "Wynton Marsalis neo bop era"...thank God that phase has receded. A lot of the musicians that got caught up in that 'warp in time', are now finding their own way/path/truth.
Like for instance Roy Hargrove, I like what he is doing with his RH Factor band, some very funky acid drenched jazz...some may not even call it jazz...like Miles would say, "call it anything"...
And also Nicholas Payton with his album Sonic Trance...good stuff.

One particular musician worth noting that has been forging ahead since the 80's, is Steve Coleman. The Brooklyn based music collective M-Base can be compared to the AACM out of Chicago...lots of big names have been associated with the collective...like Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, Graham Hayes, Branford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Jean Paul Bourelly, Geri Allen, Jason Moran...Check the full listing here: http://www.m-base.com/m-base_collective.html
Think of AACM as the father and M-Base as the son. 
Pick any name of the list and most likely the music would be great. I see Steve Coleman has made free downloads of some of his music available. Check here: http://www.m-base.org/sounds.html

More as I think of it...