What have you heard that you like? Also, do you have a problem listening to music that was recorded with much older technology? What kind of music are you interested in currently? I can give you a better answer then.

Some of the essential Jazz recordings that should be part of every collection. If you are interested in wilder styles of music, I can give recommendations later like the Peter Brotzmann and some of the others mentioned above.




Since I don't know your tastes....I am limiting it to only a few of the Avant-Garde/Free Jazz/Free Improv recordings. Except for Louis Armstrong's Hot Five & Hot Sevens all Those in bold are either Avant-Garde/Free Jazz or a combination of the two.



Louis Armstrong - Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven.....(The Rosetta Stone of Jazz. This is considered one of the most essential recordings. But keep in mind it was recorded in the early 1920's). There are now two different box sets of this material....one by JSP and another by Sony. In terms of the music itself the difference is on the 4th disc. Each box set has added in some extra non-Hot Five/Seven recordings by Satchmo, which is different on each set. While the Sony version came out later, many including myself prefer the remastering on the earlier JSP set.




Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (generally considered one of the top 2 in Jazz history by most listeners. You can also get this in the Miles Davis & John Coltrane Complete Studio Recordings box from Sony. Everything in it is gold and you will end up wanting it anyway.)
Miles Davis - Miles Smiles
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (Complete Sessions)
Miles Davis - Jack Johnson (Complete Sessions)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Deluxe Edition, which now includes the only live recording of A Love Supreme suite. Up until now, it's only been found on bootlegs. They also included alternate takes, with Archie Shepp, and Art Davis....that have always been rumored to have existed, but never heard before.)
John Coltrane - Interstellar Space
John Coltrane - Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (another of the essential live recordings)
John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
John Coltrane - Ascension
Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby
Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Sonny "Newk" Rollins - a Night at the Village Vanguard (yet antoher live recording)
Sonny "Newk" Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Sonny "Newk" Rollins - Newk's Time
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Charles Mingus - A Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Charlie "Bird" Parker - The Quintet: Live at Massey Hall (is considered one top live recordings in Jazz history.)
Charlie "Bird" Parker - Complete Savoy & Dial Recordings (The Holy Grail of Bird)
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 & 2
Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music, Vol 1 & 2
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream
Thelonius Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall (another of the GREAT DISCOVERIES of the last 50 years, which was found last year)
Duke Ellington - Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band (this is considered his most essential recordings by his most well known band.)

Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport 1956 (Complete) (another one, that usually makes the top live recordings lists. You can skip anything from Wynton Marsalis, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and go straight to the source!! That is unless you're into xerox copies and bad ones at that. )

Duke Ellington - The Duke at Fargo 1940: Special 60th Anniversary Edition (yes....it's live....and smokin')
Duke Ellington - And His Mother Called Him Bill
Duke Ellington - The Far East Suite
Art Tatum - Classic Early Solos (1934-1937)
Art Tatum - 1932-1934
Art Tatum - I Got Rhythm: Vol. 3 (1935-1944)
Abdullah Ibrahim - Water From an Ancient Well
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles
Dizzy Gillespie - Complete RCA Victor Recordings
Dizzy Gillespie - Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 (this is one of the GREAT DISCOVERIES of the last 50 years, and was also just discovered last year. For fans of Dizzy and Bird, it's a toss-up between the above Massey Hall and this. This is now the earliest known live recording of Dizzy and Bird playing together. As well as the earliest known live Bop recording.)

Count Basie - Original American Decca Recordings
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
Albert Ayler - Spritual Unity
Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
Art Blakey - The Big Beat
Art Blakey - with Thelonious Monk
Horace Silver - Song For My Father
Horace Silver - Blowin' The Blues Away
Wayne Shorter - JuJu
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond
Jackie McLean - Let Freedom Ring



Each of these musicians all have many other excellent recordings.