dialogues with jazz and pop

I have known Mingus' work for years. Though considering it too rambunctious for my daily listening pleasure, I've always recognized his genius. Mingus' music is always powerful, brilliantly constructed (even as jazz). The work I have most associated with him is Pithecanthropus Erectus:

My favorite part from Black Saint is the Track C Group Dancers. There is an incredibly mournful wailing as passionate and affecting as anything.
  Although I have always been aware of Brian Eno, this was my first opportunity to spend some time with his music.

In Dark Trees could have been composed by Reich. Slow moving harmonies, repeated motives, subtle color shifts.

Music for Airports is totally ambient, owes lots of slowly shifting textures to LaMonte Young and paving the way for trendy clothing stores at the mall.
Interesting that rock has ascended high maturity of appealing to intellect and begun to descend again as the movement loses electricity of its youth.

In Laurie Anderson (especially Superman) I hear contemporary rage Imogen Heap-- voice encoder, soft lyricism, creative textures.

In Guitar Trio, I hear rockers writing minimalism. I wonder what Steve Reich thinks? This music lacks coherent structure perceivable in Reich and Glass, but is somewhat interesting nonetheless.

Drastic Classicism might be the better work, more timbral contrast. This work also seems to possess a more coherent form than the Guitar Trio.
Angel Moves too fast to See fascinating video documenting some of its production. I can hear so many of Terry Riley's procedures wedded to infectious beat and freedom of rock.

I enjoyed Gann's illuminating discussion of jazz vs. classical in which he boils the distinction down to the role of the performer. This is getting at a frequent lament of mine, that classical performances too often sound alike because the role of the individual is so subverted.

I find Braxton's compositions very interesting, especially 40B. Their jazzy nature seem to make them more accessible despite the dissonant and pointalistic textures. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a recording of the Composition no. 95 for two pianos.

Braxton talking about his 12 + 1tet. The diversity of his output is amazing, ranging from the freely avant garde (above) to hip standards like Body and Soul (below).

I don't think Schuller's music is poorly constructed, and I applaud his efforts to cross genres. However, I think there are better composers, and his work does not generally speak strongly to me. I think it's unfortunate that he had to write that essay to defend his work. There are certainly things to be learned from each side studying the other.