I’ll agree with a lot of what’s in this thread. But, the question on the table is about jazz as it is in the world today. I’m gonna make a wild guess and say that most of the posters reading this thread HATE a lot (or at least some) of what passes for jazz these days. And for that, I think we have to blame Chuck Mangione (just to pull the first name out of my a#@). “Influential” isn’t in and of itself a “good thing”. Sorry to have to point that out.
My personal influences are more along the lines of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report and/or Return To Forever. And, yes I’m aware of what they all owe to Miles. As do Santana and the Allman Brothers (reeeaaallly stretching the definition some more).
Interesting comments. I have trouble isolating the “originator(s)” of what’s most often referred to as “Smooth Jazz” but suspect that the “exotica” or “bachelor pad space age pop” had something to do with it. My earliest musical memories include being truly fascinated by the sounds of the George Shearing Quintet which had the unison piano-vibes-electric guitar as a key ingredient. And although Shearing was an early proponent of BeBop, he also led that smooth “lounge music” movement. Others like Les Baxter, Henry Mancini, Gerald Wilson and maybe dozens more helped to establish a sound that wasn’t as “jazz” as the small combo stylings of folks like Miles, Horace Silver, Art Blakey and the types that recorded for Blue Note, Prestige and such.
Bossa Nova was also a step towards “Smooth Jazz” IMO. But to select the leaders of any movement in that direction has been hard for me. We have to accept that Kenny G has been an influence, along with the likes of Steely Dan, although I consider their music to be at opposong ends of the “smooth jazz” spectrum.
That thing about the Allman Brothers helps to make the Miles influence even more extensive, as I see it.
Which brings us back to my original comment in this thread about trying to compare swing with bop with fusion with…
I like a lot of Miles’ music, but the man had a hard-on for white musicians, and made no bones about it. He was convinced that black musicians had an innate sense of rhythm and timing and that white musicians were always ‘behind the beat’, as he put it. It really put me off his music for a time, as I considered that sort of comment to be not only racist, but elitist. That all said, I would agree that he was a major influence on the genre.
I also believe that Thelonious Monk should be added to the running.