I think you made the right analysis @Rabshakeh: I see the same things. The so called spiritual jazz movement seems to do well with a younger generation and especially artists like Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane are popular. When I attended an Evan Parker gig in Gent there we're also quite some younger people that seamed to be there mostly because they wanted to drink a beer and hear what this guy was all about. I don't think they actually had any of his records or something like that but they we're interested in some way. In my experience the Scandinavian jazz scene seems to attract younger people also: when I saw groups like Atomic and The Thing there we're more people of my generation (born in the '90's) then let's say the times I saw Bennie Golson or Sonny Rollins.
I have mixed feelings about it. I think a part of them is sincerely interested in the music and another part is mostly doing it because they feel hip/part of a cultural minority/misplaced intellectual feelings etc. I'm skeptic about peoples behaviour trough social media as well. Before you know it some hipster publishes a list of 30 must hear freejazz records without including Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Sam Rivers, Cecil Taylor or as you mentioned the great John Coltrane. When their interest is sincere: I feel so happy the music gets more interest. When their interest is shallow: please stay away.
I like Slam's playing myself. From way back when with Slim forward.
Now
Walter Bishop Jr’s Fourth Cycle “Keeper of my Soul” Black Jazz cd
342×342 16.3 KB
Bass – Gerald Brown
Drums – Bahir Hassan
Flute, Saxophone – Ronnie Laws
Keyboards – Walter Bishop, Jr.
Percussion – Shakur M. Abdulla
Vibraphone – Woody Murray