Future Jazz

Jazz has always been an experimental art form, pushing the boundaries of the mainstream, searching for the new. In this text, a series of portraits and interviews with musicians and composers provides a picture of the jazz scene from the 1970s to the late 1990s, focusing on experimental trends.

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Jazz has always been an experimental art form, pushing the boundaries of the mainstream, searching for the new. As Howard Mandel reveals in this text, jazz is still reaching out in new directions. In a series of portraits and in-depth interviews with musicians, composers, experimenters and club owners, Mandel seeks to capture the vitality and the passion of the modern jazz scene, from the 1970s to the present. The most successful jazz players of recent years have been the so-called "Young Lions", and Mandel includes three extensive interviews with the Lion King himself, Wynton Marsalis, who shares his philosophy of jazz and his pointed opinions on the contemporary scene. Most of the book, however, focuses on the more experimental and avant garde trends. The book traces the development of some of the dominant new jazz groups - talking to Lester Bowie of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and to members of the World Saxophone Quartet - and examines the work of a range of major jazz figures such as David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Joe Lovano, Geri Allen, and singer Cassandra Wilson.