Avant-Garde Latin Jazz

[Utevsky]

You might check out Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Maybe not "avant garde," but uncommonly interesting. For example, Vijay Iyer plays on their 2014 album, "The Offense of the Drum."

Edited April 12, 2015 by David Utevsky

[Late]

Everybody needs this:

[Stefan Wood]

And this, a landmark album from the 70's:

[OliverM]

David Murray Latin Big Band -- Now is Another Time, on Justin Time

[optatio]

[HutchFan]

David Murray Latin Big Band -- Now is Another Time, on Justin Time

Yeah. Good stuff.

The Mark Weinstein LP above reminded me of a more recent Weinstein recording that I've enjoyed:

It's not really "avant-garde" -- but it does seem to echo that late-60's Blue Note "inside out" vibe. (Think Bobby Hutcherson or Andrew Hill.) The pianist, Aruán Ortiz, is especially impressive.

Edited April 25, 2015 by HutchFan

[A Lark Ascending]

Most of what has been mentioned here is hardly avant garde - maybe the odd out moment. But there's some great music referred to - of the recent examples I really like Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.

Really enjoyed this too:

[JSngry]

And this, a landmark album from the 70's:

This is the group that then evolved into the slightly more mainstream Conjunto Libre, correct?

[Stefan Wood]

Yes. manny Oquendo.