Jazz from 1957 to 1967 was the most definitive.

Orpheus, thanks for opening up this discussion of great jazz.

Nicotico, yes the Second Great Quintet was a supergroup of supermen and "Miles Smiles" is my favorite Miles recording.

For me the greatest output of high quality jazz remains the Hard Bop era with an obvious extension and tip of the hat past that era to the "Second Great Quintet."

Foster_9, I agree with your 2 cents worth so much that I am going to give you a dime and lay a "heavy jam on ya".
"The Finest of Oscar Pettiford", based on recordings made in 1955 by Oscar Pettiford; or O.P. as Dizzy and friends called him. He was the baddest basist ever.
Let me make myself clear; music evolves as it should, but when someone tells me they like "Jazz" , and they are not referring to this general time frame, they have communicated ??????? to me.

Orpheus10, I'll go you one better and give you a dollar and lay some heavy jams on you.

"The Complete Vee Jay Lee Morgan-Wayne Shorter Sessions."

This one is tragically out of print. I don't own it and I've been sick ever since I heard some of this national treasure and found out I couldn't purchase it. Can't find it anywhere but it is an awesome set of music. I don't know about the sound quality but I heard a cut on Radioio.com Jazz Standards and flipped. Can't find it anywhere.... By the way, if you aren't one of the fortunate ones who owns this, much or all of it can be found on Grooveshark, so at least I get to hear this fabulous music. Please check out the track "Calloway Went-That-Away." I love it and I think you will too. http://listen.grooveshark.com

Also, it gets me too when people throw around the word "Jazz" and say they like Jazz and listen to it but don't pay homage to the Hard Bop era. The Hard Bop era personifies Jazz.

Nicotino: I also think things came to a peak with miles smiles. However, for me I truly understand Ben Websters sadness when his (my) type of music was out of vogue and he didn't get to play with the kind of players he used to. He didn't play with the harmonic intricacy of miles' groups but nobody could touch his tone and most didn't have his "soul". - Jim

Orpheus10 have you seen this? Sweet, and one of the great standards.

Senor Blues