Just beginning to explore jazz

[trbc08]

I can understand disliking free jazz. I think it's a sort of acquired taste. I really enjoy Peter Brotzmann, Ornette Coleman, 'Trane, etc. Something more traditional that I'd recommend is Duke Ellington's "Indigos." It's the only Ellington album that I have, but it's beautiful. If you like Dizzy Gillespie, you may like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. They were all of that sort of "bebop" sound, though obviously because Parker is a sax player and Monk is a pianist the melodic focus is more on their particular instrument.