All That Jazz

Coltrane's Giant Steps
Bitches Brew and Kind of Blue
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um

Coltrane, especially his work with the quartet (My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, w/Johnny Hartman, etc.).

Kind of Blue is undeniable.

As far as newer stuff, Bill Frisell is cool. Anyone who can go from playing in Naked City to doing a whole album of interpretations on those Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach collaborations impresses the hell out of me.

Stan Getz and Coleman Hawkins.

Sun Ra is a god. I saw him twice before he died, and it was 2 of the best shows of my life. He's got so many incredible albums: Space is the Place, Interplanetary Music, Angels and Demons at Play. Best track I've ever heard is a 12 minute "Egyptian Fantasy" on the Ralph Records compilation "Beets".

Charles Mingus is also incredible. His compositions are so complex and out-there that it just boggles the mind. His last album, Let My Children Hear Music, is my favorite.

Max Roach is just an amazing drummer. He is somehow able to play something completely different each measure while keeping the sense of rhythm, so that you wouldn't even notice if you weren't paying close attention.

And then there's Pharoah Sanders, Rasaan Roland-Kirk, Eric Dolphe, John Coltraine (Africa/Brass is my favorite Trane album), Thelonious Monk.

As for Miles, I think Get Up With It is the masterpiece of his fusion period, although Bitches Brew is (along with side one of Electric Ladyland and certain Bob Marley albums) one of the best sunday morning mood albums ever. Kind of Blue is, as everyone already noted, a fantastic record. Possibly the best group of musicians ever assembled, each with their own unique style, doing pure improv. I also like the album "Miles & Trane", since it has the same band doing some more upbeat bebop stuff.

I hope there isn't a rule against threadcrophilia, but I thought it would be more acceptable than starting a whole new thread.

Carmen McRae is my favorite, favorite vocalist of any style. She's a rare breed that is an instrumentalist instead of a mere singer. Bobby McFerrin is a close second.

FWIW, my jazz listening tends toward Bossa Nova and West Coast Jazz (Chet Baker, Vince Guaraldi, Stan Getz, Cal Tjader, etc.). Also partial to Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, and a wide range of vocalists, with Ella probably at the top.

I LOVE bossa. I had an album of Charles Rouse doing nothing but latin, but I LOST it somehow and have never been able to find it. No idea where it scuttled to.

If you like cool jazz, do you listen to much Mulligan? I don't know if this is justified, but I always feel like he was one the most underrated musicians of his era.

I love Ella too, but Carmen tops her in my opinion. She's so amazingly improvisational with rhythms and harmonies - she plays through the changes like an instrumentalist. Any love for Astrud?

Recently saw Esperanza Spalding in concert. She's the bee's knees let me tell you. Some of the best musicanship I've ever seen live.

Yeah, I love Mulligan, and McCrae.

I sort of run hot and cold on Astrud Gilberto: she certainly acquitted herself well for someone that fell into a career more or less by accident, and became an international sensation overnight; I love her classic work with Getz and Jobim. But her interpretive gifts in English are spotty, and standards often seemed to get away from her (if there's a more painful reading of "It Might as Well Be Spring" than hers, I don't want to hear it),

Her husband, on the other hand... now there's a singer of real wit and nuance; one of the 20th century's greatest. And his daughter's done some great stuff, too.

Miles, Mingus, and Monk are the holy jazz trinity for me old school wise. Madeski Martin & Wood is my favorite modern jazz act. I like Garage A Trois and Robert Walters 20th Congress a great deal as well.

Some Bossa Nova from one of my faves. I love it unironically.

I'm a huge fan of Brad Mehldau, Jazz piano player extraordinaire, and also Keith Jarrett, his live solo piano records are amazing.

There's nothing ironic about digging Mel Torme, the guy was fantastic!

Another favorite vocalist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=codmx...eature=related

A cool young vocalist that I'm kinda partial to: José James. Apart from a tremendous charisma, he's equally at home doing straight-up crooning (and he has the silky voice to do it) as well as more adventurous jazzing. Often he just switches between both in one concert. His last album was recorded with production credits by Flying Lotus & Moodymann.
Don't know how well known he is in the States, over here in Europe & esp. Belgium he's become somewhat of an audience darling. Much of that is the result of a phenomenal concert he did in Brussels, with local pianist Jef Neve. They did an interpretation of the music by John Coltrane.
In fact, you can stream the whole concert here, in great audio & video quality (warning: over 2 hours worth of great music ahead):
http://www.abconcerts.be/nl/abtv/p/d...james-jef-neve

Check it out. On a completely different note, I really dig the mad version of bop by the Japanese outfit Soil & Pimp Sessions. Here they are at Jools Holland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWHP_mGPlJk
They used to be punk musicians, and that energy is still palpable in their live shows (just look at the horn players mounting their foot on the speakers, blaring at the audience!)