Sun-Ra just didn't do it, nor did John Coltrane. Archie Shepp had this ...........Picannany or can you back back doodlebug, and Sonnyboy Wilson and a few more when I hear them I am leaping into warp drive. I also liked Eddie Harris who was so advanced. His electric sax was complex and articulate. He was not taken seriously then or now. Everytime I heard Eddie Harris move beyond popular music I soar and kick stars out of their orbits.
Another big banger for me was Weather Report, I thought Joe Zawinal was magic and Wyane Shorter too for a good stretch. The worst is when something is trendy and dies. I did like Miles Davis and the Bitche's Brew thing but he never left the planet for me. The ones who pushed the cosmic consciousness and Egyptian religion/culture revisited never made me feel right, though Alice Coltrane was spacey.
I think jazz folks today are stuck on earth. I haven't heard many venture out into new worlds of late. Since Eddie Harris there hasn't been one Black jazz musician to pickup the electric sax and extend it. We now have the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) and no young jazz lions have enlisted, other genre yes. The hottest instrument since the vibraharp is the Chapman Stick. If you ever watched touch or tap guitar playing you'd know what I am talking about. So that note I came across Kevin Kieth and the Electronic Jazz Ensemble.
When I am in the sci-fi M.O.D.E., that is when the art visions start. If I played an instrument I probably be in space now. I like music that causes that exhilarating brain shift, like being suspended in time.
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