electric fusion - Chick Corea and Return to Forever/Hymn to the Seventh Galaxy

guitar trio - John Abercrombie - Dave Holland - Jack DeJohnette/Gateway (fairly advanced listening); a little less challenging, but just as satisfying: Steve Khan/Let's Call This                                                      

piano trio - Bill Evans/Sunday at the Village Vanguard

piano quartet (w/tenor sax) - Keith Jarrett/Death and the Flower

medium size group - Blues and the Abstract Truth/Oliver Nelson (alto sax); Easily Slip into Another World/Henry Threadgill (somewhat advanced listening);

flute - Hubert Laws/In the Beginning

vibraphone - Gary Burton Quintet/Dreams So Real

organ - Larry Young/Into Somethin

This should get you started. Most anything by Bill Evans or Gary Burton you can find is worth listening to; I can't say that about all the above artists, or for that matter, most jazz artists that have recorded. Miles Davis and John Coltrane made several good records, but record companies emptied the vaults after their deaths, so there's a lot of crap out there from them, too.

The most recent jazz issue that I really loved was Medeski Martin & Wood's Tonic.  Harper Bros before that.  Few and far these days.

Jazz Essentials (short list highlighted) - enjoy!

1)      Cannonball Adderley – Something Else (1958 Hard Bop, Alto)

2)      Gene Ammons w/Sonny Stitt – Boss Tenors (1961 Hard Bop, Tenor)

3)      Louis Armstrong – Plays W.C. Handy (1954 Early, Trumpet)

4)      Chet Baker – Lonely Star (1965 Cool, Trumpet)

5)      Count Basie – The Complete Atomic Basie (1957 Swing, Piano)

6)      George Benson – Beyond the Blue Horizon (1971 Hard Bop, Guitar)

7)      Art Blakey – Moanin’ (1958 Hard Bop, Drums)

8)      Clifford Brown – Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (1956 Hard Bop, Trumpet)

9)      Dave Brubeck – Time Out (1959 Cool, Piano)

10)  Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue (1967 Bebop, Guitar)

11)  Benny Carter – Further Definitions (1966 Swing, Alto)

12)  Ron Carter w/Jim Hall – Telepathy (1984 Post-Bop, Bass/Guitar)

13)  Ornette Coleman – The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959 Avant garde, Alto)

14)  John Coltrane – Giant Steps (1959 Avant garde, Tenor)

15)  Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (1959 Cool, Trumpet)

16)  Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie – Roy and Diz (1954 Bebop, Trumpet)

17)  Duke Ellington – Blanton-Webster Band (1940 Swing, Orchestra)

18)  Herb Ellis – Nothing But the Blues (1957 Bebop, Guitar)

19)  Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961 Cool, Piano)

20)  Art Farmer with Benny Golson – Meet the Jazztet (1960, Hard Bop, Trumpet, Tenor)

21)  Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson – At the Opera House (1957 Bebop, Tenor)

22)  Dexter Gordon – Go! (1962 Bebop, Tenor)

23)  Grant Green – Matador (1965 Soul, Guitar)

24)  Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (1965 Hard Bop, Piano)

25)  Andrew Hill – Point of Departure (1964 Avant garde, Piano)

26)  Johnny Hodges – Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges (1965 Swing, Alto)

27)  Keith Jarrett – Koln Concert (1975 Fusion, Piano)

28)  J.J. Johnson w/ Al Grey – Things Are Getting Better All The Time (1983 Hard Bop, Trombone)

29)  Lee Konitz – Subconscious-Lee (1950 Bebop, Alto)

30)  Shelly Manne – The West Coast Sound, Vol. 1 (1955, Hard Bop, Drums)

31)  Charles Mingus – Blues & Roots (1960 Avant garde, Bass)

32)  Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners (1956 Bebop, Piano)

33)  Lee Morgan – The Sidewinder (1963 Hard Bop, Trumpet)

34)  Wes Montgomery – Smokin’ at the Half Note (1965 Bebop, Guitar)

35)  Gerry Mulligan – Meets Ben Webster (1959 Swing, Baritone/Tenor)

36)  Oliver Nelson – The Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961 Bebop, Tenor)

37)  Charlie Parker – Yardbird Suite (1950’s Bebop, Alto)

38)  Art Pepper - Meets The Rhythm Section (1957 Cool, Alto)

39)  Oscar Peterson - Trio Plus One w/Clark Terry (1964 Swing, Piano)

40)  Bud Powell – Amazing Bud Powell (1951 Bebop, Piano)

41)  Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus (1956 Hard Bop, Tenor)

42)  George Russell – Ezz-thetics (1961 Post Bop, Piano)

43)  Shirley Scott – Soul Shoutin’ (1963 Soul, Organ)

bossa nova is conspicuously absent from this thread so i thought i'd mention it - it's warm romantic and fun all at the same time, think of '60's brazilian jazz style

for a sampler try the soundtracks for either "Next Stop Wonderland" or "Woman On Top"

some great danceable jazz would be celia cruz or tito puente (mambo / samba kind of thing), you can search under cuban jazz or afro-cuban jazz also

enjoy  :)    patrick   bossajake

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue

John Coltrane: My favorite things

Joe Henderson: State of the Tenor

Any recording by Keith Jarrett

Happy Hunting

johnp

Although deceased, Grover Washington Jr. must be listed as one of the greatest saxophonist's!

Jazz/Pop vocalist Nancy Wilson is a good listen, especially her early recordings from the 60's and 70's.

Joe Pass on guitar certainly qualifies for your search! 

Lokk aat the CONCORD record label  for many excellent pure jazz and big band jazz artists. 

Mark T's essential list is a very good start for a jazz collection.

I would also include Dave Brubeck ~ Take Five

I'd suggest the Stanley Clarke Trio, or really anything by Stanley Clarke.  He's a great acoustic/electric jazz bassist.  "Jazz in the Garden" is really good.  I'm waiting for it to be available on here.  :-)

For the best melodic  experience I recommend Pat Metheny Group.  His music is so wonderful I listen to it the most of anything I have in any genre.  He is a guitar virtuoso; blending his ground-breaking sound with horns, piano ,voices, full percussion to create a a dreamscape for your ears.  It's unlike any other music!!!