The Evolution of Jazz

Jazz beyond 2000

Even though many of us still appreciate the 'straight-ahead' style of Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, and others, Jazz must continue to evolve to appeal to a younger and ever increasing audience. The younger listeners are the future of any musical genre. It is my hope that jazz continues to evolve to meet the tastes of future generations and remains an ever changing art form.

I hope that through this website you have found a jazz form that appeals to you and that you will help jazz to continue in its evolution and secure it's future.

Jazz Beyond 2000

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Beyond 2000

"Straight-ahead" and Experimental Jazz

In the 2000s, straight-ahead jazz continues to appeal to a core of listeners. Well established jazz musicians whose careers span decades, such as Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter continue to perform and record. In the 1990s and 2000s, a number of young musicians emerged including US pianists Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran, and Vijay Iyer, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Terence Blanchard, and saxophonists Chris Potter and Joshua Redman. The more experimental end of the spectrum has included Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, the internationally popular Swedish trio E.S.T. and US bassist Christian McBride. Toward the more dance or pop music end of the spectrum are St Germain who incorporates some live jazz playing with house beats and Jamie Cullum who plays a particular mix of Jazz Standards with own more pop-oriented compositions.

Free Improvisation differs from most other categories, as it's defined more by process than end result. Alternately termed "Free Music" or (for the technically minded) "Non-Idiomatic Improvisation," this broad heading encompasses spontaneously produced music that tends to sit on the fringes of and/or blur the boundaries between Free Jazz, Noise, Experimental Rock, and Avante Garde Classical. Free Improvisation first came into its own in the mid-1960s, as Europeans such as guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Evan Parker began distancing themselves from their American Free Jazz influences, discarding blues-based sounds and drawing inspiration instead from the innovations of Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, and Anton Webern. A whole generation of outsiders listened as noisemakers from Japan to New York took these early cues and expanded on them by mixing bizarre instrumental techniques with electronics, samples, and whatever else they could get their hands on. Free Improvisation continues to proliferate on an underground level, now counting the sine-wave and turntable explorations of Japan's Otomo Yoshihide as well as the outer-limits work of Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson among its ranks.

Jerseyband!

Experimental Jazz: What does a screaming hardcore metal vocalist have in common with a jazz trumpeter? For Jerseyband, it is one in the same. The band's unassuming trumpeter, Brent Madsen intermittently pulls the horn from his lips just long enough to let out his version of an ape on a rampage. One moment, Madsen screams, "Move my carrot!" and the next, your head is spinning because Jerseyband has already exchanged the gates of hell for a jaunt in Peewee's Playhouse. Backed by drums, electric guitar, and guitar synth, Jerseyband's horns (three saxophones and a trumpet) cut through meaty arrangements that shock their audiences into submission. Enthusiasts have compared their sound to Mr. Bungle, Zappa, and Meshuggah but one thing is clear; this band is best categorized under their own genre of horn driven metal called Lungcore. Jerseyband was formed in the early 2000's and continues to record through 2009. Listen to Jerseyband in the Audio section below. Read more and watch videos about Jerseyband on the Jerseyband page of The EOJ Blog. 6/20/09 I have just added 2 more tracks from Jerseyband's latest CD, Beast Wedding. You can purchase it and their other CDs from CD Baby.

Samo Salamon

An important Europian Jazz artist from 2000-2009 is electric guitarist Samo Salamon a native of Slovenia, and one of few jazz musicians to hail from that country in southern Central Europe. Born September 10, 1978, he began studying classical guitar in his hometown of Maribor, and started with jazz studies at the jazz conservatory in Klagenfurt. During the winter of 2000 he took lessons in North America with clearly his biggest influence, John Scofield. He has also studied with Rudy Linka, Tim Brady, and Andrea Allione. In addition to Scofield, his biggest early influences were Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Ornette Coleman, and Steve Lacy, as well as poets Langston Hughes and Robert Creeley and composers Bela Bartok, Olivier Messiaen, and Witold Lutoslawski. The next four years saw Salamon honing his craft with the Ansasa Trio. Asserting himself as a leader from then on, he formed a quartet with Achille Succi, Salvatore Maiore, and Zlatko Kaucic, playing all over Europe. Traveling to the U.S. in 2004 on his second trip stateside, he connected with Tony Malaby, Mark Helias, Tom Rainey, Josh Roseman, and Gerald Cleaver. American saxophonist Dave Binney and trumpeter Kyle Gregory joined Salamon's band, expanded to a sextet, as did Paolino Dalla Porta. Other prominent jazz players with whom he has shared the bandstand or recording studio include Paul McCandless, Mark Turner, Drew Gress, Julian Arguelles, Donny McCaslin, John Hebert, Tyshawn Sorey, Karriem Riggins, Fareed Haque, Roberto Dani, Michel Godard, Joris Teepe, and many fellow Slovenians. Salamon is also inspired by contemporary peers Ben Monder, Greg Osby and Steve Coleman. He leads different small- to mid-sized combos, is a member of the Mamasaal Quartet and the SGR Trio, and has recorded for the Fresh Sound/New Talent and Splasc(h) labels. Listen to Samo Salamon!