Interested in exploring jazz? I just posted this as a reply elsewhere and will add a dedicated post. Just my 2 cents.

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Up to the 70’s it’s easy to align jazz styles to decades - there were clear stylistic shifts each decade from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. After that it’s a bit messy but let’s see. I'm not a musician, just a fan.

20’s and 30’s
Not my sweet spot really. Swing and big band, Dixieland…..Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie I guess would be places to start.

40’s - Bebop
Bebop was a “hot”, fast and frantic style. Think Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Charlie Parker - “The Best Of The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recodings”

50’s - Cool (or West Coast) Jazz
A reaction to bebop, Cool Jazz toned down the heat and was calmer, more composed.
Miles Davis - "Birth Of The Cool"
Gerry Mulligan - “Night Lights"

Mid-late 50’s - Hard Bop
A reaction in turn to Cool Jazz, hard bop is not as fast as bebop and is rooted in soulful rhythm and blues, gospel and blues itself. It’s generally what jazz sounds like to people who know nothing else, in a good way. I could play this stuff for hours and often do. They play the melody, then each musician takes turns to solo based on that, then they return to the melody to close.
Cannonball Adderly - "Somethin Else”
Hank Mobley - “Soul Station”
Sonny Clark - “Cool Struttin"

Special mention here for Miles Davis’ “first great quintet" (Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones). Released a string of great albums in the mid-late 50’s, four of which are from two 1-day sessions: “Workin’", “Cookin’", “Steamin’", “Relaxin’". Others include “‘Round About Midnight", plus an earlier band with “Bags Groove”.

Late 50’s - Modal Jazz
To the non-musician this is difficult to figure out, but basically its like hard bop but they solo over modes, or scales. I dunno - it generally just sounds ace. Kind Of Blue is modal, as is Miles’s album Milestones. Incidentally KoB features the single greatest cymbal crash of all time, at the beginning of So What. Brilliant album.

Late 50’s - other classics
John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. There's a video on YT that explains the infamous ‘Coltrane changes’ over the 2-5-1. Great album even to a non-musician.
Charles Mingus - "Mingus Ah Um” - like the man himself - bold, brash, raucous, angry.
Bill Evans - “Explorations” - brilliant piano trio - this trio blazed a new trail where the bass and drums wouldn't just be ‘walking’ behind the piano, but would effectively be improvising even as Evans is soloing.

Anything from the hard bop era is best enjoyed with a Manhattan or Dry Martini in hand. You just feel cooler with this stuff playing.

60’s - post bop
In the 60’s, hard bop evolved to be more modal and generally more abstract and edgy. Best example of this is Miles Davis’s “second great quintet" (Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams).
Miles Davis - “ESP”, “Miles Smiles”

This might be the best spot to mention Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme”. When the “greatest jazz album of all time” question comes up its generally Kind Of Blue, but ALS is alway a close second. Or even first. A totally different feel. There's a video that explains how he solos using a psalm/invocation. Charles Shaar Murray (I think) once said that he didn’t understand the ALS album but it just sounds brilliant played loud in a thunderstorm. Certainly intense. (Everything from Coltrane after this album is avant-garde and a tough listen, IMHO)

70’s - funk and fusion
Not my favorite decade. The major stylistic shift was to electric funk and fusion which started in the late 60’s. There’s some funk that’s OK…..but 70’s fusion generally leaves me stone cold.
For funk - Herbie Hancock - “Headhunters”
For fusion - I dunno, the bands would be Weather Report (“Heavy Weather”), Chick Corea’s Return To Forever, maybe Brand X “Unorthodox Behavior”.

80’s
Not great for jazz, IMHO, but one of my all-time favorite artists released his best stuff here so let’s see:
Pat Metheny Group - “Offramp”, “Travels”, “First Circle”. Sort of jazz-rock-ish with Metheny’s guitar synth a common feature.

A movement evolved that was loosely centered around Wynton Marsalis called the “Young Lions”, a sort of reaction to the electric fusion years that turned back to 60’s style acoustic post-bop. Not sure I’d recommend much here though, the 60’s stuff is better.

90’s
Another tough one. Stylistically all over the map.
Joshua Redman’s “Moodswing” from 1994 is a great straight ahead set, with four of my all-time favorite musicians - Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade.

2000’s - ECM
The German ECM label has a real vibe all its own. Not blues based at all, an often austere, icy crisp production quality. Usually introspective & mellow but can get quite avant-garde. I love a lot of what’s been released.
Marcin Wasilewski Trio - "January"
Michel Benita & Ethics - "River Silver"

2000’s - modern fusion
There’s a wave of modern fusion bands that surpass the 70’s fusion style. Snarky Puppy, Darcy James Argue, Jaga Jazzist among others.
Snarky have a great video at NPR’s Tiny Desk - the second tune has the leader teaching the audience a polyrhythm and then they play a great tune.

Another favorite band is Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band - start with “Perceptual” and “Landmarks”. A real folkloric, Americana feel.
And for modern straight-ahead, Christian McBride’s Inside Straight album “Kind Of Brown”.

2000’s - London
And finally, London has a thriving scene with an often urban, hip-hop mix.
The Comet Is Coming - see them live at NPR
Other London acts to try would include Sons Of Kemet (“Your Queen Is A Reptile” - just two drummers, a tuba and sax), Nubya Garcia (“Source”, dub-wise basslines), many others.
I also like the spiritual Alice Coltrane feel of Matthew Halsall ("Colour Yes”).

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From 2025 I am enjoying Brandee Younger's "Gadabout Season"and the Aleph Quintet's "Hiwar".

That will keep you busy. And will also help you decide whether to dive in further or just run away.

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#alephquintet #MatthewHalsall