Watching this dead vs. alive skirmish escalate, I cannot but muse about those great composers, musicians, painters, poets, that lived and died alone in dire misery, paid their last absinthe with what was acknowledged to be the work of a genius only years or decades after they faded away. They were geniuses when they were alive, all the time, no one just noticed or understood.
Albeit far from the same magnitude, the assertion that demised jazz composers/musicians were in general better than the ones alive bears resemblance. If this thread would have been started a mere 10 months ago, would Joe Zawinul have been considered less of an innovator? If so, wouldn't it be because only after his death people have been rubbed with their noses in it (press articles, tributes, etc.) so it's really just become more commonly known?
One more thing about innovation. Before one may be recognized as an innovator, he or she has got to be recognized as belonging to the field that is subject to innovation. I read Bird's - to mention but one - music was initially not considered jazz by many, not even music just noise (a fate he shared with the likes of Beethoven and Wagner in their own time). Perhaps some of today's biggest calibers are just not on the radar yet.
To be sure: no offense meant to anyone, just in appreciation of brilliant artists past, present and future.
Gawdbless, in case you start having doubts, jazz is fun also! To prove it, here's another girl with drumsticks: Carola Grey & Noisy Mama.
