[ArthurDent]

Will throw in Eberhard Weber, classically trained bassist, who has mixed both worlds rather nicely for many years, predominately on ECM. My suggestions for first listenings if not familiar -
link-  Silent Feet
link-  Yellow Fields 

[john dozier]

Zappa!

[Photon46]

An extremely talented artist who could be in this crossover category (sometimes) is Gidon Kremer, who is known primarily as a classical violinist. In particular, his work with his ensemble Kremerata Baltica ventures into brilliant jazz and tango influenced musical excursions. Some of their music is so diverse in its influences you just sit in your seat scratching your head trying to figure out what tradition this or that snippet of melody sprang out of. A great place to start might be:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=91616

[jazzcourier]

Lots of interesting and some good music mentioned here.Nice to see Barry Guy's name mentioned.The London Jazz Composer orchestra has recorded several cd's worthy of inclusion and scrutiny,and this is not music for the faint of heart as it will challenge all your senses,most notably your patience and your conventional sense of harmony melody and rhythm.Also nice to see Alan Broadbent among the names here,a massive talent and a brilliant pianist whose teacher Lennie Tristano always cited the single most important attribute of any Jazz improvisor is the "ability to swing".If you don't swing,nothing else will follow in the Jazz chain.Tristano was maligned in the late 40's and early 50's for being cold and detatched from the Jazz medium when he assembled his sextet of students,notably saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh and in 1949 recorded for Capitol.The issued sides were complex,cerebral BeBop and,yes,very swinging.The two tracks recorded,but rejected,were examples of what Tristano taught and his other main point...."the most important part of playing Jazz...is the ability to feel" to improvise,and these were two completly improvised pieces..."Intution" and "Digression" far ahead of their time for 1949 and the single most important departure from the Charlie Parker influenced music of the period.Tristano took a lot of heat for this free thought in Jazz but was solid in his understanding of the base for which to depart...The melodic invention of Louis Armstrong,The fluid decomposition of the bar line  as illustrated by Lester Young,the ability to swing with an organic flow like Billie Holiday and the fire and passion of attack like Roy Eldridge.He taught these masters,and added Bird's uncanny stream of improvisatory mastery over harmony,melody and rhythm.
      Lennie Tristano created a chamber music enviroment for Jazz improvisation.It fell upon mostly deaf ears and he was a recluse for most of his life,teaching in his studio,bitter to the lack of understanding the public gave him.Not to mention the press,record companies and the Jazz clubs.Listen to the "Bands for Bonds" broadcasts with Charlie Parker or the  Metronome All stars of 1949 with Bird and you will hear the amazing sensitivity and fire these two created.From two opposite poles of Jazz improvisation they met on common ground and created mostly unheard masterpieces.

[jazzcourier]

Two of the most important composer/arrangers of the pre late 50's /early 60's "Third stream movement " were George Russell and Gil Evans.Russell,progenitor of his own "Lydian chromatic concept" composed "A bird in Igor's yard" recorded by the Buddy Defranco Orchestra for Capitol in 1949.This WAS supposed to feature Charlie Parker and never did,instead as the title implies combined elements of Stravinsky and BeBop.A sucess and a real oddity in my estimation though sounding dated now but in a fun way.Two years later Russell's "Ezz-thetic" was recorded for Prestige by the Lee Konitz sextet with Konitz on alto and Miles Davis on trumpet,two of the key figures in the 1949/50 "Birth of the cool" sessions.Gil Evans was a major part of that "BOTC" and he brought the tuba and french horn to these sessions from his work with Claude Thornhill in the early to mid 40's.In fact it is Evans who is credited for the first arrangements of BeBop for an Orchestra.Lee Konitz was in that Thornhill band.It wasn't until the late 50's that Evans reached his audience with his memorable collaborations with Miles Davis 1957 "Miles Ahead" 1958- "Porgy and Bess" 1960-"Sketches of Spain".Evans took the works of DeFalla and Rodrigo and found his own magic with these works for Davis and his trumpet,and might i add,not often mentioned,his amazing flugelhorn adventures on these pieces.His own recordings did not flower until the mid 60's with two masterworks for Verve- 1964 "Individualism" and 1965 "Guitar Forms" with the soloist being Kenny Burrell.These recordings were the best of "Jazz meets classical"-expanded orchestrated ensembles playing detailed,elaborate compositions and arrangements and the center of it ....a compelling Jazz soloist..... improvising.All in all,the period of 1945-1965 was the most exciting and the most experimental of Jazz,it seemed to push a century of music into 20 years.1965-1970 ...the dead zone... 1970-2013 ? open for discussion.......

[pescholl]

My favorite recording of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is with Benny Goodman, Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony