These are the Top Ten Jazz Recordings by Nat Hentoff, jazz critic for Wall Street Journal.
Louis Armstrong
The Best of the Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (Sony)
Count Basie
The Golden years (Pablo/Fantasy)
Miles Davis
Sketches of Spain
Kind of Blue
In a Silent Way (Sony)
Benny Goodman
The Benny Goodman Sextet Featuring Charlie Christian (Sony)
Duke Ellington
The Complete RCA Victor Recordings: 1927-1973
Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band (RCA)
Billie Holiday
Lady Day / The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944 (Sony)
Charles Mingus
Let My Children Hear Music (Sony)
Mingus Ah Um (Sony)
The Modern Jazz Quartet
Django (Original Jazz Classics)
Thelonious Monk
The Columbia Years 1962-1968
Charlie Parker
The Quintet-Jazz at Massey Hall (Debut/Fantasy)
outstanding!