Reference Vocal/Piano/Sax/Guitar CD s

If you like jazz, try the following:
Marian Mc Partland, "Reprise", an outstanding piano recording
Dick Hyman, "In Recital" on Reference Recordings
Dick Hyman, "Plays Duke Ellington" on Reference Recordings
Dick Hyman, "Swing" on Ref Recordings (also some good guitar and excellent excellent sax solos by Frank Wess)
Dick Hyman, "Swing is Here" " " " (also some excellent
vocals)
Dick Hyman, "Plays Fats Waller" " " "

Dick Hyman is one of the most technically skillful pianists of any genre on the planet and his skills are demonstrated all in service of the music on these discs. The sound quality is beyond reproach.

Marian McPartland has a melodical style which noone seems to duplicate. You can also try any of her "Piano Jazz" CD's, which are repeats from her radio show from NPR if you don't mind a lot of talk. I particularly like the CD's with Milt Hinton and Dave Brubeck.

More selections:

Clifford Jordan, "Live at Ethel's" on Mapleshade (Tenor Sax)
Ibrahim Ferrer, "Buena Vista Social Club" (Male Vocals)
Natalie Cole, "Take A Look" (Female Vocals)
Virginia Rodrigues, "Sol Negro" (Portuguese Female Vocals)
Les Double Six, "Les Double Six", (French Jazz Vocal Group)
Gloria Estefan, "Gloria"
Sarah McLauglin, "Surfacing" (Great female vocal recording and also great deep room rattling bass on track 2, if your system can reproduce it)

For high fidelity demonstration purposes, the recordings in the first set are some of the highest quality discs that I have ever heard. The CD's in this post are more commercial and while the sound is very good, they probably don't generally reach the sound quality level of those in the earlier post.

Pick up a copy of Eva Cassidy's Live At Blues Alley. IT will definetly give you a vocal & piano reference. For guitar try Johnny A ,Sometime Tuesday Morning on Aglaophone records.

solo piano .. John Lewis "evolution" The pianist reworks materpieces such as "Afternoon in Paris" and "Django" and the recording is the best of a solo piano that I've heard.
For Saxophone I would recommend "Oscar Peterson meet Ben Webster" for Ben's huge warm tenor sound. "Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Jazz Leaders" and Sonny Rollins "Way Out West" HAnk Mobley "Soul Station" for Vocals Shirley Horn's "You Won't Forget Me" Recorded by David Baker and featuring a stunning and rare guest spot by Miles Davis.

Wow!!! (so many recommendations) :-)
I thank you all very much for taking the time to provide all of these great titles for me to sample. Special thanks to those who also take the time to describe in detail what to look for in the CD (imaging, soundstage, ect.). It will take me some time to go through all these great titles and pick out my top 5 as reference CD's. In the mean time, I wish you all great health and happy listening.