By Tom D'Antoni

There is a new generation of jazz musicians in Portland who, in the past year, have taken over the scene. They're everywhere! Almost overnight this multi-racial, multi-gender pack of 21 - 35 year olds have transformed jazz around here.

Not by themselves, of course. Ask any of them and they'll point to a Thara Memory or a Stan "Bock or Gordon Lee as mentors and teachers, and most of them have attended the Mel Brown Jazz Camp. But this new bunch has clearly established themselves as the new jazz establishment.

So who are they and what do we call them? It's easier to name them than pigeon-hole their music for easy marketing.

Some call what they do "NuJazz." The problem with that is the term "NuJazz" was first attached to "Smooth Jazz," an anathema to people with half-a-musical brain. "NuJazz" is also attached to jazz/hip-hop remixes.

The new jazz cats in Portland don't do either of those. So let's leave it at "Jazz," although Dusty York, around who's Diatic Records the whole scene seems to revolve, has some trouble with that, too. He doesn't think just calling it "jazz" is broad enough, or contemporary enough, but he doesn't have a good suggestion for a catchy name either.

"Why can't we just call it 'improvised music?'" he asks, knowing the answer to his own question.

One of the newest of the newcomers is 21-year-old saxophonist/composer John Nastos, a Portland native who blazed through the Manhattan School of Music in three and half years and immediately moved right back home. He isn't a fan of the handle "NuJazz" either.

"I've never personally used it, but I often get categorized in it," he told me in a radio interview. "I don't think genre labels are a good thing period. It's an important distinction that there's stuff going on in the cutting edge scene that is pretty different from the tradition...not that it's not linked up."

He went on to define odd meters and time signatures, but for the consumer, the music is best left to the listening. What they're playing is accessible and satisfying to just about everyone.

Here's a our cheat sheet to some of the best of them:

Dusty York/saxophone: Lynchpin of the scene. His passionate yet intellectual playing matches his skill as a label owner. He has put the scene on the map.

Drew Shoals/drummer: The rock star of the scene. He plays with everyone, brilliantly. Listen for the Crunk in his step.

Andrew Oliver/pianist: Multi-instrumentalist moved back to Portland from New Orleans post-Katrina. Exploding on the scene in many ensembles.

Ben Darwish/keyboards: Beginning to reach out to his hip-hop contemporaries while maintaining his jazz rep. Did a spectacular gig with DJ Ohmega Watts recently.

Damien Eskine/bass: In-demand plus for his chops and versatility. His solos on Drew Shoals' debut album astound.

Mary Sue Tobin/saxophone: A member of Oliver's band and the all-female sax ensemble, the Quadrophones, as well as Paxselin Quartet and many others.

John Nastos/saxophone: See above.