I have discovered Charles Mingus
 

Listening to Haitian Fight Song.

Man this is awesome. Any recommendations for similar artists? I've been listening to Miles a lot lately, too.

John Coltrane (album suggestion - love supreme), Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, Cannonball Adderley, & Thelonious Monk to name a few.

good stuff

Dizzy Gillespie at the peak of the bebop years. Untouchable.G

This might sound odd, but try Ian Dury and the Blockheads!

'New Boots and Panties'

Mingus, Miles, and Monk...you can't go wrong with that.
As a guitarist let me offer up another "M" : John Mclaughlin, all his solo work and of course his stuff with The Mahivishnu Orchestra. It's like all these guys were from another planet.

What he said. I'm surprised... there are actually some folks here on GFY with impeccable taste in music.

BTW, Joni Mitchell has a Mingus tribute album called 'Mingus'... it came out a few days before he died.

Joni Mitchell is a bad ass and a musical genius. I had one of the first Roland GK amps that they developed in the beginning just so that she could use all the crazy ass different tunings that she invents when she writes songs. Her and Jimmy Page are like the God's of on-the-fly invented tunings.