I guess the original post asked about "mainstream", but some of the most interesting and best recorded stuff put out in the last 20-30 years can be found on the ECM, Soul note, CMP, Enja, and JMT labels. It's a great time to be a music consumer. Try Max Roach- Pictures in a Frame, David Murray- Ballads for Bass Clarinet, or Lucky Four,John Zorn Masada or his Sonny Clark Mem.Quart. titled Voodoo, Jerry Granelli-Another Place, Ed Blackwell- What It Is, Francois Bourassa trio- Echo. None of these are real outside avant brain fry recordings, but they are beautifully played and amazingly well recorded. This is just a tiny sample, there is an incredible amount of GREAT stuff out there. We are a bunch of lucky dogs.
