Not so much "Desert Island Discs",
more
"Records You Should Have Listened to Before You Got
Shipwrecked"!
All the usual suspects: Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Our Man in Paris, The Bridge, Giant Steps, Something Else, Mingus Ah Hum, Monk's Music, Hot Fives and Sevens, Out to Lunch, Maiden Voyage, Time Out,
But there are others:-
Claus Ogerman's Cityscape, with Michael Brecker, and an orchestra, with Steve Gadd and Eddie Gomez, amongst many other worthies. A GREAT ALBUM, sadly overlooked by jazz fans because of the strings. This album made me realise that Brecker was a great musician, rather than just a fast funkster. You could call it a concerto for the saxophone. Super moving. Try Charlie Parker with Strings as well.
Ralph Towner, Solstice, Sound and Shadows. What interaction! Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, and Jon Christensen working wonders with Towner's compostions.
Parliament Live, there is no deeper funk
Prince's Squiggle album, the one with My Name is Prince, and Sexy MF. Everyone gets a pastiche here (including Meat Loaf and Queen). And it GROOVES.
Gong You. 'nuff said
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention Roxy and Elsewhere My introduction to Zappa, and so a favourite.
Other players to listen to (no particular order), Jimmy Heath, Eric Dolphy, Bennie Wallace, Michel Urbaniak, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, John Taylor, Arthur Blythe.