Jazz guys: Bebop, Hard Bop etc.

Let's see... in addition to the Bebop there's the A-bop, C-bop, D-bop and re-bop... Now that Starbucks sells music they have the half-caf grande latte-bop... but seriously folks - most of the players you've mentioned would cringe at any attempts to pidgeon hole them - I'm cringing too.
You're missing Mingus and Ornette - throw in some John Scofield for good measure and you'll have a quite a collection.

Gdoodle: I happen to be listening to Mingus as I type this, and I have almost all of John Scofield's discography in my collection. He happens to be my favorite guitarist. I did not post all the jazz I enjoy listening to. I don't have any Ornette Coleman yet. I haven't heard much of his work and not been grabbed by what I have heard. No need to cringe Gdoodle, I'm not trying to pigeonhole these artists- I'm trying to understand these genres and how one differentiates them. I greatly enjoy what I hear; I'd like to be able to tell the differences as I move hear these genres. Re-reading my post, I think I did a poor job of communicating that. It would be slighting their art to try to pigeonhole them. That is definitely not it for me.

Hey that's cool - sounds like we like a lot of the same stuff. I was just trying to add a little humor (very little). Can someone really define a genre in words - withOUT just listing a bunch of players? I think at best you'll settle for is "periods" of music. I guess I learned a lot about jazz by reading album liner notes - wikipedia has a long entry for bebop and hard bop - and lists of musicians that might answer your question.

Check out Ornettes early stuff - "The Shape of Jazz to Come". Scofled is one of my faves - seen him 6-8 times...

Check out Grant Green, Nat Adderly, Cannonball Adderly, and Donald Byrd, just the artists that come to mind while I'm at work.