Sorry if a thread like this has been posted before (somehow I have my doubts that it has) but anyone here into classical jazz?

Who's your favorite musician/band?

I'll start by saying that since I'm a drummer I really like Buddy Rich. His work from the 30s to the 60s was exceptional, but I believe he became a monster musician in the late 60s/early 70s. He had always provided a great back beat to his bands, but during that later period his soloing technique went beyond phenomenal. Stick control, varying technique and unbelievable speed makes him the best drummer in my book.

There's a multitude of other great jazz musicians so anybody care to share your favorites?

Buddy Rich
Elvin Jones
Max Roach
Art Blakey

oh yea and for guitar, even though it's jazz fusion - Allan Holdsworth.

Diana Krall.

Too many to choose from. Just to name a few:

John Coltrane
Charlie Parker
Sarah Vaughan
Lionel Hampton
Joe Morello
Thelonious Monk

Down With The Sickness - Richard Cheese
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nza2LB4BAw0

Shug Avery - Miss Celie´s Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVxyiL9vWk0

Jazz and Blues go hand in hand yeah??

Billie holiday - lady sings the blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUtPODn7cCc

Thanks for the link xCrimsonx. Billie Holiday is definitely one of the greats.

Django Reinhardt
Charlie Parker
Louise Armstrong

Ms. Ella Fitzgerald ( Sorry if I spelled her last name wrong )
Billie Holiday
Joe Morello
Duke Ellington

Not a hardcore jazz fan, but John Coltrane's A Love Supreme is perhaps one of the greatest recordings made by a member of the human race.

Damn, if I only knew her personally back in the day.

Peggy Lee

I refuse to use a term like "classical jazz" in most contexts...to me it brings to mind stuffed-shirt old white men trying to improvise absurdly slow, unimaginative music in on a piano in an upper-class restaurant.

But judging on most of these responses, apparently that wasn't the idea behind this thread. So here's my $0.02:

I mostly dig avant-garde and fusion. But I do love a lot of hard bop and music influenced by it. Here are my top picks, in no particular order:

- John Coltrane
- Miles Davis
- Wayne Shorter
- Kenny Garrett
- Jazz Messengers
- Charles Mingus
- Thelonious Monk