Yesterday's/Today's Specials?

I'm a relative latecomer to Jazz but want to broaden my palette a bit from the usual suspects(Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Smith, Kenny Burrell, Django, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonius Monk, Dave Brubeck, Sarah Vaughan etc)

Can anyone recommend something(s) that include:

eastern european folk music, Prog textures and instrumentation/electronica, quirky 'Monkish' melodies and harmonies, real drivin' beats plus an orchestral/symphonic approach to arrangements

BTW I'm not that excited by classic fusion (apart from the Mahavishnu Orch) and I heartily LOATHE airy and spacey ambiances and free jazz 'fire in a petshop/strangling balloon animals' stuff OK?

js wrote: If you like T Monk, let me highly recommend Herbie Nichols. they don't sound a like, but they have similar appeal.  I think our Nichols page should have a video with some music, I would add more videos, but unfortunately our video fetcher is not working right now.

Thanks, will hunt down the Nicholls critter pronto

Edited by snobb - 03 May 2013 at 1:39am

alternatively you can check Polish yass/nu jazz:







Edited by snobb - 03 May 2013 at 5:05am