best sound for a classical and jazz cd

Good point concerning 'audiophile' recordings. I have a few that were highly hyped, but I never listen to them because I don't like the music. I even purchased a few DBX and DMM LPs back in the day, but I noticed they always seemed to be by lesser composers and lesser performers. I don't pay any attention to the 'audiophile' tag anymore. I just work thru all the hype and BS and try to find good recordings by reading every review I can find. I have found that the All Music Guides tend to track my taste.
I like Motown because it was the music of my teenage years. I can say that motown on LP sounded much better than Motown on CD. At least my fading memory says so. I can't believe I just said that. :) Soon I'll be singing the praises of tubes.

Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone (that's the title) on Telarc. SACD or CD. They both have great sound. I'll let you guess which sounds better.

IMHO, one way to enjoy the Blue Note sound and beat the "thin" bottom end exhibited by some of their (especially RVG's) stuff is to go for the better Jimmy Smith titles. You might start with "Prayer Meeting" - which features some really cool playing from Stanley Turrentine and one bad-ass rumbling organ to fill out the bottom end.

Caveat - like all RVG, this is not everyone's cup of sonic tea.

Marty

I also like to recommend Allen Toussaint's recent "The Bright Mississippi" and Duke Ellington's Pablo releases (especially "Queen's Suite" and "Small Band - Intimacy of the Blues") and "Far East Suite" on Bluebird.

Just a few...

Benny Green "Source" 2011
Anat Cohen "Clarinetwork: Live At The Village Vanguard" 2011
Arturo O'Farrill "Live in Brooklyn" 2005
Phil Kelly "My Museum" 2006
Gordon Goodwin "The Phat Pack" 2006

"out to lunch" - eric dolphy

Monk + coltrane at carnegie hall