I wrote in an earlier letter that jazz died around 1960. Obviously this was a bit of an exaggeration, but I think it is fair to say that by that time, or in fact ten years earlier, jazz was no longer the pop music that young people gravitated towards.

I agree with you there. Jazz didn't "die" then, however - it just became less popular. Some of the best jazz ever has been created since that time.

I wonder which of the contemporary jazz artists will stay the course and be the classical music of 100 years hence.

I have no doubt that Miles' 2nd great quintet and Coltrane's classic quintet will be a part of that canon, even though they were post-1960 and thus relatively not all that commercially successful in their time.

As for the jazz artists of today, I don't know which will still be listened to then. What I do know however is that I'll likely be listening to Charles Lloyd, Remember Shakti, Don Cherry, Tomasz Stanko, variations of the Buena Vista Social Club ("Cachaito" by BVSC's Orlando Cachaito Lopez is killer, as is Eliades Ochoa's "Sublime Illusion") and others until the day I die. Which is long enough for me.

Are they as good as, say the Duke and Ella? Arguably not, but if listening to the "best jazz ever" were a requirement for enjoying jazz over the long haul then we should arguably stop listening to anything after Louis Armstrong's Hot Five.

Me, I'd rather keep moving forward and enjoy the music of today in addition to the music of yesterday.

It was a top ten pop album just a few years ago.

George Benson "This Maquerade" et al.

Duke-Clark Project "Sweet Baby" jazz rock r&B top ten on the r7b and pop charts int he 70s

Flip Flop Fantasia was a number one single US3.

There's been a number of jazz hybrids on the r&b and hiphop charts in the last three decades.

Some of you are really ignorant of the breath of jazz today. It went beyond the Marsalis's and the codified stuff a long time ago. It's beyond Ella and Louis, beyond Miles and Ornette. It's beyond smooth jazz.

How sad this thread is.

Jazz has been in the top ten since 1960. It's just been in R&B, Funk, rap, and in New Jack Swing. Try listening to George Duke, G

Santana's Superstition album was latin jazz

It was a top ten pop album just a few years ago.

I cannot find any record of an album by Santana of this name. Are you thinking of Supernatural, by any chance? That was not a jazz album, it was a latin-tinted pop-rock album featuring Santana in "duets" with a number of other pop and rock musicians, not in a jazz setting.

About 15 years ago, numb from listening to Magic Bus for the millionth time and bored with the finite set that is Classic Rock - I knew I had to find something different. Thru good fortune I happened on to the Compact Jazz sampler of Chick Corea / Return to Forever, whereupon, "Vulcan Worlds" blew me away and I found I soon acquired a taste for Flora Purim's vocals in "500 Miles High". To date jazz fusion has been a genre for which my listening enjoyment has only grown. Most recently I've discovered a great new sound in Four80East. Although, Herbie Hancock's "River" isn't my thing, "Future Shock" certainly is!

These recs are not from the usual canonized jazz recordings. Most are contemporary and relatively accessible, many straddle genres (purists would probably bristle at the "jazz" label with some of these).

Bringing the funk:

* Blue Note - "Blue Funk" (excellent Blue Note late 60s compilation)

* Will Bernard - "Motherbug"

* T.J. Kirk - "T.J. Kirk" (Charlier Hunter, Will Bernard & others playing songs by Thelonius Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk)

In A Silent Way-type groove:

* Erik Truffaz - "The Mask"

* Tomasz Stanko - "Soul of Things"

Electronica influenced:

* Erik Truffaz - "Revisite" (best jazz/electronica mix I've heard)

* Nils Petter Molvaer - "Khmer"

Jamband influenced:

* Garage a Trois - "Outre Mer"

* John Scofield - "A Go Go" (featuring Martin, Medesky & Wood; could just as easily be in the funk grouping)

* Charlie Hunter - "Natty Dread" (cover of the classic Bob Marley release of the same name)

Acoustic:

* Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - "So What" (excellent introduction to jazz or to Garica & Grisman, depending on which direction you are coming from)

Relatively straight contemporary jazz:

* Charles Lloyd - "Voice In The Night", "The Water Is Wide", "Notes From Big Sur"

* Ginger Baker Trio - "Going Back Home" (Ginger with Bill Frisell & Charlie Haden; IMO some of Frisell's best work.)

Latin Jazz:

* Los Hombres Calientes - "Los Hombres Calientes" (or any of their releases)

* Orlando Cachaito Lopez - "Cachaito"

World Music influenced:

* Don Cherry - "Brown Rice" (very trippy - would do the Dead proud)

* Don Cherry - "Multikulti" (like the title says)

Codona - "Condona" (1, 2 or 3 - they are all great)

* Remember Shakti - "Remember Shakti" (jazz/Indian)

* Jan Garbarek, Anouar Brahem & Shaukat Hussain - "Madar" (Mix of jazz, north african and Indian. BTW anything and everything by Brahem, a Tunisian oud master, is great.)

be realistic...don't act like you don't know what happened...white people are so inclined to gush over black affirmation that when a black musician finally gives a high-profile "high-five" to a white artist, liberal guilt jumps in and throws a trophy, in their way saying, "oh, finally, we're all one...we're hip...we're valid...we're......down!"man, please...herbie could've easily honored lou donaldson, hendrix, etc...but it wouldn't have turned a head, but honor the whitest of white bread, joni mitchell(excluding james taylor, manilow, elton..whatever) and the panel acts like it's the greatest achievement since..."ebony and ivor..aw, fuck it! oh, by the way, i'm white

* Charlie Hunter - "Natty Dread" (cover of the classic Bob Marley release of the same name)

I have checked out some of the modern age jazz albums suggested by Salon readers here, and for the most part have been singularly unimpressed, but this one caught my eye as I have the original Marley Natty Dread album, and, in fact, all of Marley's albums, which are a great joy.

My firs reaction was to think that if you wanted to produce a jazz version of a Marley album, you would go with Kaya for mellowness, or Survival for passion and great tunes, but be that as it may, this album isn't half bad--based on short samples I have heard.

At least they have got the right idea. In the original incarnation of jazz, the name of the game was to take popular songs and produce enhanced versions that would delight those who knew the original songs. For example, try Mack the Knife by Sonny Rollins on Saxophone Colossus, and then try Ella's version.

Personally I love the songs of Cole Porter, like Got You Under My Skin, of which I have more than 20 versions, or I Get A Kick Out of You, and last night I was listening as I was driving to the supermarket to a gloriously distorted rendition of skin by Red Norvo on vibes, Tal Farlow on guitar, and Charles Mingus on bass. So much so that I was still dancing around Wal*Mart to the vibe as I collected my groceries.

So just the very idea of someone doing a subversive jazz version of reggae classics excited me. This seems to me exactly what modern day jazz artists OUGHT to be doing. Maybe some jazz versions of Andrew Lloyd Webber tunes, or the Abba musical too.

These connections to standards are what helps to connect to audiences. In this case any Marley fan will at least sit up and take notice.

Is the Hunter album any good? Well I was only able to listen to short sain on these tunes.

Anyway, it is a great idea.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B000005H6C