Coming a little late to this excellent conversation. Mostly I agree with almost everything already said, especially about the importance of actually listening to a lot of jazz, live and recorded. It's a lifetime's occupation and a constantly rewarding one.
My two cents here are mostly to mention two more fine players, Don Julin and the late, great John Abercrombie. In recent years Don has been gaining a reputation as a fine bluegrass mandolinist and teacher but, I think, at heart his first love is jazz. He can play the old stuff and the new stuff, inside and out, with real soul. Plus he's a nice guy, like all of the other living players mentioned so far.
John Abercrombie, while always primarily a ground-breaking guitarist, played a lot of electric mandolin from the mid-70s into the 80s. He used the instrument quite a bit in his fabulous duo recordings with Ralph Towner, in Jack DeJohnette's band, and in his own first quartet (recently re-released on CD by ECM). You can find some videos on youtube of him doing things no one else has every done with a mandolin. Not burning hot licks stuff but beautiful, adventurous, improvisations that constantly inspire me.
P.S. A hello to DavidKOS who I met last week at the CMSA convention in Santa Rosa without realizing that he was the same guy who frequently makes informed comments here at the Cafe. The mention of the "End of Early Music" made the penny drop. I certainly enjoyed our conversations in the vendor room.
John G.
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