I read you criteria. Because jazz started roughly at the time of commercial sound reproduction,some of the recordings sound like,well,remasters of recordings up to a century old.
Early Jazz--any of the compilation anthologies of Louis Armstrong,Hot Five/Hot Seven recordings. The music justifies the recordings' qualities.
Swing--Art Tatum. Since you said small ensembles,I'll pass on Basie and Ellington.
Bop--Charles Parker,Ornathology
Cool--Miles Davis/Gill Evans,The Birth of the Cool....Kind of Blue
Hard Bop.--Mingus,Ah Um. Coltrane,Giant Steps. Blakey,Night in Tunisia
Modern--Bill Evans,Sunday Afternoon at the Vanguard
As a classics listener,The Modern Jazz Quartet may interest you. They were together as an ensemble for decades and got so good that some thought they were playing written out compositions.
Enjoy the collecting
Early Jazz--any of the compilation anthologies of Louis Armstrong,Hot Five/Hot Seven recordings. The music justifies the recordings' qualities.
Swing--Art Tatum. Since you said small ensembles,I'll pass on Basie and Ellington.
Bop--Charles Parker,Ornathology
Cool--Miles Davis/Gill Evans,The Birth of the Cool....Kind of Blue
Hard Bop.--Mingus,Ah Um. Coltrane,Giant Steps. Blakey,Night in Tunisia
Modern--Bill Evans,Sunday Afternoon at the Vanguard
As a classics listener,The Modern Jazz Quartet may interest you. They were together as an ensemble for decades and got so good that some thought they were playing written out compositions.
Enjoy the collecting