Matthew Shipp

**** MATTHEW SHIPP "Nu Bop" Thirsty Ear With each recording, iconoclastic pianist Shipp ventures more deeply into uncharted musical terrain, and he does so to particularly striking effect on his latest release. There may be no jazz pianist in the country who incorporates cutting-edge technology, modern dance beats, record "scratching" and other sounds of the times into the lexicon of jazz improvisation as persuasively as Shipp.

Fans of jazz and improvised music are mourning with the unexpected loss of saxophonist David S. Ware, who died Thursday night as a result of complications from a 2009 kidney transplant. He was 62 years old. A free-blowing, modern-day titan of the saxophone, Ware was not the kind of player who could've been heard at a mainstream event like the Playboy Jazz Festival. In fact it's difficult to find just about any record of the New York-based artist playing L.A. apart from a couple of '70s dates as part of Cecil Taylor's band -- and perhaps Ware's health contributed to Taylor's recent decision to cancel an upcoming L.A. performance . But Ware was a favorite among music fans of all kinds looking for an heir to the explorations of late-period John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler.

The fight is on for the soul of jazz. In an era when the likes of Norah Jones and Diana Krall have made pop crooning the bread and butter of jazz record labels, a new avant-garde contender has emerged and is moving in the opposite direction. Thirsty Ear Records' Blue Series is reclaiming the youthful, intellectual challenge of jazz, finding new forms -- and audiences -- on the heady cutting edge of modern electronica, hip-hop and rock hybrids.

The fight is on for the soul of jazz. In an era when the likes of Norah Jones and Diana Krall have made pop crooning the bread and butter of jazz record labels, a new avant-garde contender has emerged and is moving in the opposite direction. Thirsty Ear Records' Blue Series is reclaiming the youthful, intellectual challenge of jazz, finding new forms -- and audiences -- on the heady cutting edge of modern electronica, hip-hop and rock hybrids.

Fans of jazz and improvised music are mourning with the unexpected loss of saxophonist David S. Ware, who died Thursday night as a result of complications from a 2009 kidney transplant. He was 62 years old. A free-blowing, modern-day titan of the saxophone, Ware was not the kind of player who could've been heard at a mainstream event like the Playboy Jazz Festival. In fact it's difficult to find just about any record of the New York-based artist playing L.A. apart from a couple of '70s dates as part of Cecil Taylor's band -- and perhaps Ware's health contributed to Taylor's recent decision to cancel an upcoming L.A. performance . But Ware was a favorite among music fans of all kinds looking for an heir to the explorations of late-period John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler.

The six-piece ensemble that Roscoe Mitchell brought to the CalArts Modular Theatre on Friday was called the Note Factory. It's hard to imagine a more accurate label. Saxophonist-composer Mitchell led the group through seven works in which the players rigorously labored at the production of their instruments' total sonic potential.

* * * * CRAIG TABORN TRIO, "Light Made Lighter," Thirsty Ear In music, there's nothing more exciting than hearing an artist making a breakthrough, which is precisely what pianist Taborn achieves on this profound trio recording. Although best known for his work with reedist James Carter and saxophonist-composer Tim Berne, Taborn comes into his own on every track of this disc, his sound galvanic and virtuosic at one moment, serene and deep into the keys the next.

Grazing was the order of the day Friday and Saturday at the 41st annual Monterey Jazz Festival. Grazing for food in the festival's multitude of eating places, and grazing for music among the programs taking place simultaneously in six different venues. Toward that end, the colorful food court area was positioned in a long pathway connecting the principal performance arena, the Jimmy Lyons Stage, with the smaller concert locations.

When Wynton Marsalis' epic suite "All Rise" (****, Sony) had its world premiere in New York, in 1999, the sprawling work proved somewhat episodic, its cast of symphonic musicians, jazz instrumentalists and gospel choir only sporadically functioning in tandem.

**** MATTHEW SHIPP "Nu Bop" Thirsty Ear With each recording, iconoclastic pianist Shipp ventures more deeply into uncharted musical terrain, and he does so to particularly striking effect on his latest release. There may be no jazz pianist in the country who incorporates cutting-edge technology, modern dance beats, record "scratching" and other sounds of the times into the lexicon of jazz improvisation as persuasively as Shipp.

Linkin Park "Meteora" (Warner Bros.) *** 1/2 Linkin Park resurfaces to the sound of a cloudburst and the steady beat of a hammer, launching an album (in stores Tuesday) that marks a small but meaningful expansion of the band's musical hybrid theory. Melody remains at the center of this storm. Electronic accents inch toward other genres even as hip-hop beats and metal guitars thunder into view.