Today’s jazz artists are basically going in one of three directions: traditional, contemporary mainstream, or "anything goes."
Traditionalists are performing jazz mainly patterned on Blues, Swing, Bebop, and Hard Bop; in other words, they exclude Free Jazz and Fusion.
Traditionalists believe that what they play is "real jazz," not the various hybrids and "add-ons" (according to them) that occurred in the 1960s and since. They are also known as "jazz purists."
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is at the forefront of this movement. He is an internationally acclaimed musician and has played a major role in the resurgence of jazz.
Contemporary mainstream jazz artists are influenced mostly by Hard Bop sensibilities.
Contemporary mainstream jazz artists use, for the most part, Hard Bop instrumentation and musical forms.
However, within the Hard Bop framework, contemporary mainstream jazz artists continue to push the music forward, e.g., ever increasing technical proficiency on their instruments, expanded musical harmonies (more difficult and complex chords and chord progressions), and deeper and varied emotions expressed.
Trumpeter Terence Blanchard is one of today’s most important contemporary mainstream jazz artists.
“Anything goes” jazz artists will put all kinds of music into the pot and stir it up; these can include but are not limited to:
all styles of jazz
classical music (mostly of the 20th and 21st century variety)
world music (i.e., music from other parts of the world), especially from South America and Asia
all styles of blues, rock, rhythm and blues, Latin, funk, hip-hop, ska, rap, and popular music
Two important jazz musicians in the “anything goes” camp include saxophonist Dave Liebman and trumpeter Dave Douglas.
