Who are the Jazz Cats on Audiogon?

Jazz is probably the most extraordinarily diverse music form, with many idioms to choose from and enjoy: trad, swing, be-bop, hard-bop, cool, west coast, vocal, free, avant-garde, contemporary, fusion, acid, smooth, funk, nordic, latin, cuban, etc. Some of these may not be well-regarded or even considered jazz by some, but to me they all include an element that is not usually found in other styles of music: IMPROVISATION.

Brad Meldhau (sp?) wrote in the liner notes of one of his recordings that if all forms of written/recorded music were lost, jazz would be one of the few forms of music whose players could return to their instruments and continue to play and create as if nothing had happened.

Yes-on the Jazz, no on the cats.
Cats should never be allow in a serious music room. They
like to lay on power amps and then the room smells like pussy.

I try to buy at least one new Jazz release per week (this week- Lalo Schirin's "Ins and Outs and Lalo Live at the Blue Note." Live cuts are excellent) , it would be nice to see this thread or a new one, become the Jazz picks for the week.

Hey, fellas, I'm enjoying this thread. To me, this is what our hobby is really about--the music!

Can't claim to be a true expert, and it's not my #1 music, but I get by. My collection must run into the several hundreds of vintage jazz vinyl, mostly from the 50's and 60's, but I enjoy - to a greater or lesser extent - almost all genres predating fusion. I especially dig those few artists whose specialty was/is a balancing of composition and orchestration with improvisation, who move beyond forms standardized in the service of jamming.

Really? There's only about 30 jazz cats? Come on, y'all, sound off! Jazz is America's classical music, and it must be supported as such!