Who's the greatest innovator in jazz today?

[Hardbopjazz]

My vote would have to go to Wanye Shorter.

[brownie]

Cecil Taylor.

End of discussion!

[couw]

End of discussion!

just when I was gonna mention Alfons...

[king ubu]

Cecil Taylor.

End of discussion!

a true word!

[Rooster_Ties]

For me, it'd be a toss-up between Greg Osby (though I'm less inclined to say that after "St. Louis Shoes" and "Public" -_- ), and Jason Moran.

(Full disclosure: I haven't heard all of "Public" yet, just the three full-length tracks you can listen to on the BN site.)

Edited June 22, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[Hardbopjazz]

I have to add Andrew Hill to the list.

[Rooster_Ties]

I have to add Andrew Hill to the list.

FYI, I see the question as almost automatically resulting in answers that fall to artists who are (at most) middle-aged. Don't get me wrong, I love what Wayne's doing these days, and I'll bet ya'll thought I was gonna say Andrew Hill in response to this question, didn'tcha?? Guys like Wayne and Andrew (and Cecil too) are still incredibly innovative (even today), but I think one could argue that they were at their point of greatest innovation (and had their greatest impact) in decades past.

That is NOT to discount their work today, but rather to understand that most artists have their greatest impact while in their 30's and 40's, and occasionally their 50's (or even as young as their 20's occasionally).

Or at least that's my two cents.

[king ubu]

Nothing against Hill, Osby, Moran - all musicians I love, and I do consider innovative, but Cecil is a giant. Stressing "is", as he really still is. Get the disc he made with the Instabile guys, get the Willisau concert. Genius at work.

In my opinion, he's just beyond where Hill, Osby or Moran have gone so far.

And this is not to put Hill down, not at all!

ubu

(edited for spelling)

Edited June 22, 2004 by king ubu

[JSngry]

Off the top of my head, I'd have to say Henry Threadgill, whose compostional scope continues to broaden and amaze, and Steve Coleman, whose has kept the faith with the M-Base concept and has nurtured it into a very organic and loose feeling something or another that is really a world unto itself right now. This stiffness and the "theoretical" complexities of the early work are gone now, and the guy's stuff is pretty damn scary. I like that.

And yeah - Wayne. And Ornette, still. Another visionary masterpiece like TONE DIALING is surely on the way (he says hopefully).

[JSngry]

And add Yusef Lateef to the list - his YAL sides cover an incredible range of "styles", and some of them are not really like anything anybody else is (or has been) doing.

[Aggie87]

Dave Douglas might be worth a mention, though he's a younger generation than most that have been named already. Taking a look at his body of work as a whole, and he's been very creative, the quality of the music is pretty good, and he's not afraid to try all sorts of different things - electric Miles, string quartet, his Tiny Bell trio, etc.

[Craig23]

I would think that Misha Mengelberg would need to be mentioned. His use of time signatures is something I rarely hear (in any kind of music).