The Teodross Avery Quartet: In Other Words. Michael Cuscuna (prod.), Rudy Van Gelder (eng.). GRP Records GRD-9788. CD.

James Carter: The Real Quietstorm. Yves Beauvais (prod.), Joe Ferla (eng.). Atlantic Jazz 82742-2. CD.

Cyrus Chestnut: The Dark Before the Dawn. Yves Beauvais (prod.), Josiah Gluck (eng.). Atlantic Jazz 82719-2. CD.

Nicholas Payton: From This Moment. . . Delfayo Marsalis (prod.), Joe Marciano (eng.). Verve 314527073-2. CD.

When a precocious Wynton Marsalis burst on the jazz scene in 1982, he decried the bastardization of jazz by such late Seventies musical forms as disco and fusion. His goal of returning jazz back to bop and swing was viewed by some as naive and criticized by others as outright reactionary. Undaunted, Marsalis has since spent his career adding new luster to seemingly worn-out jazz riffs and idioms.

Concurrent with this revival, Marsalis invested a great deal of time and energy spreading the gospel of traditional jazz. He has spent hundreds of hours in music classrooms and conservatories around the country and the result is that a new generation of jazz musician is emerging. Largely influenced by Marsalis’ reformist jazz definitions, this new breed of young lions have hit the streets with a purposeful flair and some devastating chops.

A significant element to understanding this new generation’s perspective is that they consider jazz as a venerable, studied musical form. After nearly half a century of development, moving from its New Orleans roots to the farthest reaches of free jazz esoterica, jazz never really stopped to catch its breath. Since roughly the death of John Coltrane - how that event seems to loom greater with each passing year - jazz has floundered and fumbled without a strong, coherent thrust. This new generation can, with the perspective of time, sort through jazz history and condense its varied veins and motifs into persuasive assertions of jazz as classical music.

A common characteristic of these young lions is flawless delivery of the full range of jazz riffs. While to some this may sound over-practiced and calculated - jazz should be spontaneous - the effect of this approach further underscores the suggestion that jazz has become a classical form. By re-examining the full range of the language of jazz, these musicians are helping to formulate a basic repertoire that may very well guide the art of playing jazz into the next century and beyond.

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton demonstrates the range of jazz history using a powerful, Louis Armstrong-influenced trumpet to blow straight bop lines with uncommon correctness. He has a superb sense of how to caress the basic melody with a flurry of unhurried notes and carefully matched harmonies. Matched with other members of the young lions pride, such as pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Mark Whitfield, Payton’s first solo release may not stretch the limits of jazz expression, but within its compact purpose, From This Moment. . . is great mainstream jazz.

Tenor saxophonist Teodross Avery, at the tender age of 21, has amassed all the great sax riffs. Possessing a clear, driving tone that emulates the John Coltrane, Avery stretches the meter a bit with perfectly executed modal twists. While he keeps the proceedings largely in a mainstream pocket, on tunes like "One to Love," the gospel influence gets resounding Keith Jarrett-like statement that is quite impressive. On "An Ancient Civilization," though, Avery’s staccato soprano sax just doesn’t quite hold together right. Nonetheless, a promising debut by Avery; with more polish and experience, he’ll be quite a force.

James Carter plays all the saxes equally well - and then goes on to feature the bass clarinet and bass flute. This man is a true saxman, with a style that eschews Coltrane’s modal textures for the honking and squealing reminiscent of Albert Ayler and Lester Young. But it is Carter’s brutish baritone, featured in the first cut, a quiet, thoughtful "‘Round Midnight," that really carries the day. Halfway through, he executes a superb sustain that ordains circular-breathing as de rigueur for any self-respecting saxophonist of this new era.

The Real Quietstorm is Carter’s second release. Last year’s J.C on the Set powerfully showcased Carter’s effortless blasts through covers ranging from Duke Ellington to Sun Ra. With this release, Carter slows things down a bit and, while there some great individual tunes - check out "Born to Be Blue" - a certain emotional detachment in his playing keeps The Real Quietstorm from coming together as a whole.

Cyrus Chestnut really turned some heads last year with his debut album, Revelation. He combines the light, ephemeral touch of Ahmad Jamal with the precision and directness of Oscar Peterson. Throw in some of the thundering bass lines of McCoy Tyner and the polytonal influence of Debussy and you have, in effect, a new voice. It seems Chestnut, of all the young lions, is one of the most original in his conception of just how all these influences should play out as the century wanes to a close.

In The Dark Before the Dawn, Chestnut mellows a bit from the propulsive thrust of Revelation. The opener, "Sentimentalia," begins as a gentle waltz, then gradually builds power to a swelling climax using massed chords. In "The Mirrored Window," Chestnut sets a soft, reflective mood, then skirts with a Debussyian atonal detour just enough to keep you guessing where he’ll go next.

It is in "Baroque Impressions," though, that we get a taste of what may yet be to come from this fine young pianist. He starts out with a precise Bach fugue that quickly transforms into a bluesy romp. While many have played this angle before, Chestnut imbues an sense of purpose to the whole piece that has a depth and range of emotion akin to a Beethoven piano sonata. The piece is a startling homage to the continuousness of man’s musical forms over the centuries.

Audiophiles taking a quick glance at the engineers of these releases will surely notice the venerable Rudy Van Gelder as engineer of Teodross Avery’s In Other Words. This is a real departure for Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, the guiding hands behind GRP Records. While many of their releases, such as ones by the various Chick Corea bands, suffer from flat, uninvolving sound, Van Gelder provides Avery with that same classic sound he made famous for Blue Note in the heyday of jazz. Check out the pounding bass drum on "Our True Friends" - you get a sense the trap is on a riser because it sounds as if the whole stage is shaking.

While The Dark Before the Dawn is recorded live two-track analog, as was Revelation, the new release has a troubling hooded quality that limits upper-frequency textures. The James Carter release is a workman-like contemporary jazz recording with decent sonics but nothing special. The Nicholas Payton CD is definitely sub-par, with muted dynamics and a flat soundstage. This recording used the Acoustisonic Process, which would normally lead me to think "gimmick," but Marcus Roberts’ 1990 release Deep in the Shed credits the same process and sounds quite good. Go figure.

Veteran jazz observers should be encouraged by the commitment these young lions have shown in re-affirming the jazz vocabulary. Who knows? There’s still a chance, too, that the current revisionism may just be a platform from which to embark on a whole new era of sorely needed innovation in jazz. But that’s another story.

Siegfried P. Duray-Bito