Hard to fault any of jazzfan's reccomendations, but I'd add a few.

I loved CH in Ornette Coleman's early band. He held all that frantic blowing together so nicely. I'm also partial to the "middle" Liberation Music Orchestra's album, Ballad of the Fallen, which suffers a bit from digititis, but has some of Carla Bley's most luscious harmonies ever -- the charts from Ballad just tug my heartstrings every time I hear them. Haden's "Silence" is one of those musical moments that cuts through all the clutter of everyday life, leaving you suspended in glory.

The solo recordings on the Naim label are quite good, but the duets (one with Chris Anderson and one with John Taylor) are both stunning in both music and sound.

Then there's Beyond the Missouri Sky with Pat Metheny. I think I'll go listen to that now, as a matter of fact.

But before I do, I'll also mention that I love Quartet West's Always Say Goodbye, which I realize some listeners find "gimmicky" because of Haden's use of recordings of vocalists from eras past. Since it's homage and intended to evoke and earlier LA, I forgive it -- it's not like he's pulling a Natalie Cole here, he's making a recording about the land of dreams, fer Pete's sake. At any rate, I like it and assume a few other people must as well.

Man, I hate when I'm late on the scene and all I can say is, "What they said."

Beyond the Missouri Sky was slow to catch traction with me, now I get emotional comfort listening to it.

Maybe that's the best compliment of a recording...its charms are subtle, but grow and insinuate themselves into your psyche until you can't imagine the world without it.

There's a Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane disc (LP) called "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman" that has done the same thing to me. It is a killer disc.

Haden's never been on a bad album so in a sense, everything is recommended. I've always been partial to the two duet albums originally on A & M/Horizon: 1976's "Closeness" (w/Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Jarrett, and Motian) and 1977's "The Golden Number" (w/Coleman, Cherry, Hawes, and Shepp). And now that I've pulled them both from the shelf for this post I realize that they were both purchased as "cut-outs." So I'd say that these are the best two Haden albums ever to be remaindered.