Combinatorial formula for Macdonald polynomials and generic Macdonald polynomials

We give a direct proof of the combinatorial formula for interpolation Macdonald polynomials by introducing certain polynomials, which we call generic Macdonald polynomials, and which depend on d additional parameters and specialize to all Macdonald polynomials of degree d. The form of these generic polynomials is that of a Bethe eigenfunction and they imitate, on a more elementary level, the R-matrix construction of quantum immanants.