Originally posted by Fruitbat
Kind of a tall order considering there are so many different sub-genres - hard bop, post bop, be-bop, fusion styles, swing, big band, free jazz, latin jazz, gypsy jazz, classic New Orleans sound, avant garde, Dixieland etc etc.

If you like guitar stuff there are top 6 string 'bop' merchants who were big in the 50s-70s like Tal Farlow, Barney Kessell, Jim Hall, Herb Ellis, Les Paul, Pat Martino, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Grant Green. Current top players I recommend are Martin Taylor and Charlie Hunter.

Perhpas more melodic is gypsy jazz. Django Reinhardt is the originator and guru and a major influence. Current players worth checking out are Bireli Lagrene, Moreno and Fapy Lafertin.

Jazz fusion - serious shredding here. we're talking Al di Meola, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Larry Carlton, Sonny Sharrock, Bill Frisell.

It's not that tall an order. I'm familiar with all types of jazz. I just think that Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller did the best job writing jazz in general. Much like I think that the Who did the best job at writing rock in general, even though there are many kinds of rock.