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My father has an incredible selection of jazz music that I grew up listening to... I'll go through his selection when I get the chance and post back here. Much of it consists of the greats which have already been mentioned: Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, etc. I'll post whatever hasn't been mentioned.
Are you a fan of classical? One of my absolute favorite musician composers is Jacques Louissier, who has done extraordinary renditions of classical songs (among other things - fun fact, he sued Eminem for stealing one of his beats [and after listening to both songs, it's clear that Eminem totally did]). He's done Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, Vivaldi, and more. He's probably best known for his Bach work though. Personally, I think his best work was with Bach and Vivaldi. He's done solo piano jazz interpretations of Chopin's nocturnes, and some are really, really beautiful.
His rendition of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor is pure brilliance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIa-YXIqLs0 I have many other treasured pieces by him that I consider some of my favorite music of all time, but I'll hold off on posting all that.
The whole entire "Classic Meets Cuba" album by the Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion is also really great. There are some samples here: http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Meets-.../dp/B00019PD2A
Also, the anime Cowboy Bebop is known for a really incredible bluesy/jazz soundtrack. Even if you hate anime, the soundtrack alone is worth listening to. We played the theme song in jazz band in high school, actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jCJZEFIto And this is another great track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wWa3O9cUo I suppose this would be "contemporary" jazz but I don't think it sounds anything like Kenny G, and I don't listen to Kenny G, so... yeah.
B.B. King is also great, particularly the song Chains N Things, which was sampled in Ice Cube's "A Bird in the Hand": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJJ4lI631Ng (oh yeah, this has vocals... um... but it's still really good, so deal with it. )
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