[A] Bad mistake on my part. I've made three edits, but the notion has been locked in my mind for so long there's a good chance that I've made it before. I was confusing Murray with Rashied Ali, who joined Coltrane on Meditations, and who had a similar career up to his death in 2009. I should also note that my initial dislike for Coltrane's terminal avant-garde period has attenuated somewhat, and I do like their duo album, Interstellar Space (recorded 1967, released posthumously in 1974).

I've never heard any of these people. I get out so little that I could probably have fingers enough to count all of my live jazz encounters. I can say that it was a revelation to watch Reggie Workman with Mal Waldron, and I'd be a better jazz critic if I had more experiences like that. I've seen more rock, especially in the late-1970s when I was in New York, but not a lot more.

[A] I haven't gotten to the new one yet, but I'm skeptical that I'll be able to answer your question when I do. Let me answer a slightly different question. Following AMG (circa 2000), I originally filed Courvoisier's albums in a file called Avant, which was for post-classical music, or whatever you call it — ECM's "new music" is too broad a term for too narrow a music, "experimental" or "avant-garde" bleed elsewhere, "minimalism" is just one flavor, "electronic" mutated into EDM so got its own file. It's basically the stuff that Tom Johnson or Kyle Gann would cover, as opposed to Leighton Kerner's turf (all Village Voice critics), although I extended it back to include some older composers I found interesting, like Harry Partch and John Cage. My original grouping picked up some artists (like Courvoisier, Fred Frith, and Elliot Sharp) who wound up mostly appearing on jazz labels, and probably should be moved. Later I set up a similar file for Classical, just because I occasionally heard albums that didn't fit anywhere else, but it is pretty barren, with very little research beyond what I've heard.

Back in the 1950s, at least as far as my music teacher — there was only one, an old German guy who was snobbish, disengaging, and uninspiring — was concerned, only classical music mattered. As far as I could tell, that was what everyone thought (or at least said). I couldn't sing, was never offered a chance to play, and had no interest in his music. I developed a strong prejudice against it, partly in reaction to specific sounds (especially violins), partly to the sense of grandiose melodrama I associate with 19th-century opera and symphonies. (The Adorno line is something like: "The bourgeois want art lush and life ascetic; the reverse would be better.")

Much has changed since then. Most music schools teach jazz, and while there are still niche roles for skilled classical musicians, many (most?) would-be composers gravitate toward jazz, even if they don't limit themselves to jazz tradition. Moreover, jazz musicians are well-schooled in classical technique, which they are likely to exploit. I have neither skills nor desire to draw a line between jazz and classical. I still have my old prejudices, which trigger on occasion, but it's quite possible to play classically-informed music without me noticing. (Recent Dvorak tributes by Steve Swell and James Brandon Lewis are examples. I doubt I've ever heard him except as jazz.) Still, don't expect any insight on that count. It's quite possible that my preference for the 5th Wild Up album over the 4th is simply a matter of horns vs. strings only.