Jon's Top Five Jazz Recordings

1. Round Midnight
   Wes Montgomery Trio
   
   Close empathy among trio; imaginative reharmonization of "Round Midnight"; masterful guitar, lyrical with deep swing. Great chord solos.
    
2. The Bill Evans Album
   Bill Evans
   
   Interesting, harmonically beautiful original tunes by Bill, great trio playing, deep emotional content, influence of Debussy and Ravel in piano solos.
    
3. Volume 2, Archive of Jazz
   Charlie Parker
   
   Virtuosic technically, but most important, fantastically creative playing that is still fascinating to hear. Innovative approach.
    
4. Lady Be Good (for Ella)
   Tommy Flanagan Trio
   
   Released in 1993; very emotional playing from Flanagan on "Isn't it a Pity," timeless tunes, great empathy in trio, great drum sound (tone) and drive by Lewis Nash.
    
5. Guitaristic
   Jimmy Raney
   
   Very lyrical, melancholy, introspective yet exciting guitar solo style; formidable technique but unlike some guitarists, he makes no point of displaying it.