Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society

If you've tapped into the East Coast/international jazz press recently, you've no doubt seen Ronald Shannon Jackson touted as "the future of jazz drumming" and his band, the Decoding Society, sometimes called the most important working band in jazz today. Jackson, a 43-year-old native of Texas, was the percussive force behind Ornette Coleman and James Blood Ulmer's early electric albums and played with pianist Cecil Taylor before laying the foundation for the Decoding Society five years ago.