This is a list of the artists who I listen most to. All their records are worth getting, and I have included below a note of one or two CD's per artist that you might get as an introduction to their music.

Guitarists

Scott Henderson

His first 7 or 8 albums are sophisticated jazz-rock. These days he is into fusing blues and jazz. Check out 'Well To The Bone'.
http://www.scotthenderson.net/

Allan Holdsworth

This musician is in a class of his own, so all his albums are awesome. My favourite is his latest studio album, 'The 16 Men of Tain'.

John Scofield

Like Mike Stern, Scofield first became a big name in jazz through playing with Miles Davis. Check out 'Time On My Hands'.

John Abercrombie

Abercrombie is capable of sublime gracefulness. Try 'Current Events'.

Pat Martino

A virtuoso at 18, my favourite album is 'Both Sides Now', which features a raft of other players (Tuck Andress, Joe Satriani, Michael Hedges, Mike Stern, Les Paul) in duets with him.

Bill Frisell

My favourite is still his first recording, 'In Line'.
http://www.billfrisell.com/

Wayne Krantz

Try 'Long To Be Loose'. Krantz plays a Strat, and plays with both sensitivity and a cutting edge -an intense musician. He is interesting guitaristically because of his right hand style (pick and fingers), and his use of open strings in chords that are fretted in second position or above, producing lots of rich harmony and subtle clashes with chord tones.
http://www.waynekrantz.com/

Nguyen Le

Try 'Three Trios', or his superbly original interpretation of Jimi Hendrix' music on 'Purple'. Viet-Namese and based in France, Le has fused Oriental folk with jazz, Hendrix-style and other world musics. Le plays a solid-body guitar with occasional and very tasteful use of guitar synth. He has recently had cancer and fortunately made a good recovery.
http://www.actmusic.com/nguyen_le.htm

Jeff Beck

Beck is a sonic maestro. My favourite is 'Guitar Shop'. His last two or three CD's use loops for a contemporary feel.

Steve Khan

Steve Khan has since the mid-80's pursued an interest in the piano-less group, with four wonderful quartet albums with his group 'Eyewitness', offering a spaciousness and intensity. Check out 'Casa Loco'.
http://www.stevekhan.com/

Mike Stern

Stern made his name playing with Miles Davis, and plays exclusively a Tele guitar. When I saw him in 1987 with Michael Brecker I was impressed with his skill in moving fluidly up and down the neck. I immediately vowed to spend a lot of time and effort on position-changing on the guitar. Check out 'Play'.

Non guitarists

Michael Brecker

Brecker was a virtuoso tenor sax player who played with a whole spectrum of feels and emotions. Start with 'Michael Brecker'.

Chick Corea

Try (pianist) Corea's 'Three Quartets'.

Joe Zawinul

Zawinul was the leader of Weather Report. Since they split in the mid-eigthies he concentrated on fusing world music and jazz, including using samples and the latest synth technology. Check out 'My People'.

Weather Report

Check out 'Night Passage'.

Miles Davis

Check out 'Kind Of Blue' (50's), 'My Funny Valentine' (60's), 'Bitches Brew' (70's) and 'Tutu' (80's).

Thelonious Monk

Some people mistakenly said (pianist) 'Monk could not play'. This is because of his angular melodic lines and idiosyncratic use of space. Check out 'Criss Cross', or 'Monk with Coltrane'.

John Coltrane

Check out 'Blue Trane' or 'A Love Supreme'.

Photo credits
The photos at the top of this page wre taken from wiki commons website. Here are the the credits:

Photo of Jim Mullen:
Jeff Hardcastle

Photo of Scott Henderson:
Original uploader was Melancholyblues at it.wikipedia. Later version(s) were uploaded by Jacopo at it.wikipedia.

Photo of Bill Frisell:
Author
Nomo michael hoefner / http://www.zwo5.de

Photo of Django Reinhardt:
This photograph is from the William P. Gottlieb Collection which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 1995. The collection consists of jazz photographs taken from 1938 to 1948 by writer-photographer William P. Gottlieb. In accordance with the wishes of Gottlieb, the photographs in this collection entered into the public domain on February 16, 2010.