Names which spring to mind (though bear in mind popularity is quite a relative term when it comes to jazz). And that I’m not super-up on the current jazz scene:

Names which spring to mind (though bear in mind popularity is quite a relative term when it comes to jazz). And that I’m not super-up on the current jazz scene: Wadada Leo Smith, Vijay Iyer, Branford Marsalis, Dave Douglas, Kamasi Washington They all have varying degrees of popularity and avant-gardness. Also, it’s not really fair to compare any of them (or any other contemporary players) to Coltrane - that was a special time for jazz. Plus music has moved on — new genres, instruments, it’s new times. Candidates for the new John Coltrane, Id argue, would be hip hop producers: J Dilla, Madlib, Flying Lotus (who is actually related to Alice Coltrane), DJ Premier, Pete Rock, RZA, Q-Tip, are some of the most influential producers who have strong connections to jazz. By which I mean knowledge of, musical influence from, and also using samples of jazz (though arguably that’s the least relevant part) in their work. You could make an argument for rappers, too (Rakim, Nas, etc), as hip hop is the inheritor of the jazz tradition, but it is trickier comparing rapping - oral poetry at heart - to instrumental music. One reason, imho, jazz had that golden age was that it was during a time in NYC when there was a critical concentration of talent and opportunities for jazz musicians to make a living playing gigs there.