I love the Vandermark 5...Yes I know it is really structured, but I am saying it has elements of free jazz within it...and I love the structure/Freedom paradigm...
Then I have been checking out some like early Paul Bley records.... Really cool stuff.
I agree that usually cats who can play straight make the best free players. In any case, I just want to stand up and say, when done well, free jazz is really really good. In my opinion. Out to Lunch = one of the best jazz albums I know of. And I love the fusiony Miles stuff that is mostly pretty free too. Ornette Coleman = great stuff... but again a lot of those use the freedom within structure thing, and I think it works better than just showing up and playing anything from the get go.